“Where ya trying to go girly?” He asked.

   “Yondu, we’re not doing this.”

   “Yes, we are,” Yondu kissed her chest. “Stay with me, darling.”

   “Yondu,” Meredith warned. “Let me up.”

   “I will repeat my previous statement of ‘nah.’ What, dontcha ya love me anymore?” Yondu asked, wearing a comical frown on his face.

   Meredith managed to giggle. Here was the famous Ravager Captain, Yondu Udonta, being a goofball. If anyone ever found out, his reputation would be ruined. Good thing for him that Meredith was good at keep secrets. No one would believe her if she told them that Yondu was a huge cuddler. People would think she was crazy. Yondu Udonta did not cuddle, people would say. It’s not in his nature.

   It was rather surprising to Meredith when they got together. She would wake up with Yondu’s arms around her waist, his hands rubbing circles along her stomach. When he was in a foul mood, he would demand Meredith cuddle him until he felt better. Even after sex, he wanted to be cuddled. It was adorable, but she wouldn’t tell him that. He had a reputation to maintain.

   “Why are you like this?” Meredith asked.

   “You know ye love me.”

   “Sometimes I love you. Right now, I’m annoyed with you.”

   “Aw, don’t be sore at me sugar,” Yondu purred. “I just wanna cuddle with the prettiest girl in the galaxy.”

   “Oh please,” Meredith rolled her eyes. “I’m just a boring old Terran.”

   “Nope, you’re more than that. You’re MY Terran. That makes you the best Terran in the whole entire galaxy.”

   “God, listen to you,” Meredith chuckled. “You’re such a hopeless romantic.”

   “Ya, I am,” Yondu grinned at you. “C’mon, gimme a kiss.”

   “No, I’m not giving you a kiss because you're extremely annoying and not letting me leave the bed.”

   “Give me a kiss!” Yondu demanded.

   “No!” Meredith laughed as she tried to push Yondu away.

   “Kiss! I want a kiss!”

   “No, no, no!” Meredith threw a pillow at him.

   “Eh, I gotcha!” Yondu pinned her down. “I win! Where is my kiss?”

   “Alright, you win,” Meredith smiled at him.

   Yondu kissed Meredith, humming happily. Meredith ran her hands down his back. She could feel his scars and his muscles. He pulled back, grinning at her.

   “I love you, Meredith Quill.”

-Ten years later, Half World-

 In and out, not gonna stay too long, don’t talk to no one, drop the shit off and we go.

 Meredith shoulda known that man was full’a shit.

 She ran her fingers gently over her large stomach keeping an eye on Kraglin’s data pad, making sure everything they owed this man was off their ship and none of the men decided to keep any of the dangerous supplies they were dropping off. She couldn’t quite tell you the reason but none of this was sitting right with her. A lotta the people they worked with didn’t sit right with her but half world was so empty. It was barren, surrounded by a jungle of alien life that none of the hardened men around her dared step foot in. The only speck of civilization in this hell-scape was the medical facility dab in the middle of the meteor. She didn’t want to go near it, it reeked of death and made shivers run down her spine, arms protectively wrapping around her swollen stomach.

 What was taking him so long?

 In and out, yet, he had been inside negotiating with that man for two hours now. She and Kraglin had been in and out of the ship four times now and still no sign of him. This was keeping in mind her personal quarters were a very long distance from the docking bay.  

 Some of the men, growing as bored as she and her adopted son, were setting games up on the crates she and Kraglin were keeping a close eye on.

 “Ma,” Kraglin said through a yawn, “Ya think the captain got side tracked again?”

 “It’s possible,” she said making circles around the baby kicking her insides growing as impatient as her, “Might be trying to swindle him out of more money than this junk is worth like he did to them folks on Xandar.”  

 Kraglin snorted leaning against one of the crates, “That’s what we need. Get into a gun fight when Kraglin Jr. is so close to joining us.”

 “I think Yondu settled on his name being little bastard,” Meredith chuckled.

 “Nah,” Kraglin said picking at his teeth, “That’ll be his nickname.”

 “His name is gonna be David Bowie!” Horuz called over to them pausing in his card game, “I will be quite the rich man when ya name him after that singer yer always going on about.”

 “Mick Jagger,” snarled Tulk in disagreement laying down a winning hand making Horuz begin to curse.

 “It’s gonna be Yondu Jr,” another argued.

 Meredith shook her head, those were not gonna be her son’s name. She had settled on Peter months ago but telling them now would ruin the fun, she liked watching them fight. She liked helping get them riled up suggesting a new singer every week. She had Kraglin put in a bet a week ago for Peter so they could split this money between them, it would be their little secret.

 “I can’t wait no longer, I’m gonna go see what’s taking his blue ass,” Meredith decided making each man look towards her with a mix of worry and restraint.

 Meredith Quill wasn’t just first mate because she was banging the captain and now carrying his child. This woman was a fire cracker with a quick hand that would have drawn her gun and killed them before they even rose.  

 “Ma, let me come with you,” Kraglin begged knowing this was trouble. Either Yondu was going to do something rash seeing his girlfriend enter or Meredith was gonna over react and shoot the place up (again) for someone disrespecting her captain.  

 “Stay with the idiots, baby, mama will only be a minute. You need to be here in case one of these morons tries to steal the cargo.”

 “And if we do?” Tulk asked watching her with a raised eye brow.

 “Kraglin will shoot ya.”

 “Alright, so we’re safe,” Tulk laughed watching Meredith disappear. She opened her mouth to make a witty retort but couldn’t find the words so continued to venture into the compound in hopes of finding Yondu and leaving this place.

 ==

 “Give me the money ya owe me and I’ll give ya yer shit,” Yondu growled out leaning across the table so the scientist could see his glare and know he was done messing around.

 “Mr. Udonta, I paid you to be on time and you weren’t. That is highly unprofessional and due to you breaking our agreement, I lost a patient due to not having the supplies I paid for in advance. You are not getting the second half because you broke our contract.”

 “Maybe if’n ya would have warned me the supplies were coming from a Xandarian military base, I could have arranged things better to be on time. I lost fifty men in that dog fight and risked my unborn son’s safety for yer shit! Least ya can do is give me what ya owe me!”  

 “I wasn’t aware you were having a child,” the man said and Yondu felt his stomach drop at the intrigued look he gave him, “I was under the impression most Centaurians  were dead and those who were alive couldn’t breed. What species is the mother?”

 “None of yer damn business,” Yondu didn’t like this, he needed to get his money and go before this turned out ugly for them, “All that matters is ya owe me money.”

 “The Kree were very good at modifying Centaurians. You of all people should know how miraculous it is for one to have a child at all, that child must be very special. I will give you all the money you want for just the opportunity to study this child.”  

 Yondu’s patience was lost at that, he let out a low whistle and his arrow was inches from the doctor’s goggles.  

 The doctor sighed and shrugged in annoyance as if Yondu was the one being unreasonable here.  

 “You act like I would hurt your child, if anything it would be nothing more than a free check up from a real doctor. I am a leading doctor in my field Mr. Udonta, I do not harm my patients, I merely enhance them and make them more than they ever expected they could be.”  

 “Yer no better than a filthy slaver if you really think that way and ya best give me good reason not to kill ya now.”

 “Calm yourself, Mr. Udonta,” he said not even phased by the arrow still floating close to his face, “A slaver and a researcher are very different. I am taking away no one’s free will. I always ask for permission and as the father you have denied access to your child. So, I will not bring it up any further.”

 He paused picking up a stack of papers and sliding them over to Yondu who didn’t touch them. This did not phase the doctor any either, almost expecting it at this point.  

 “That is the reason I cannot pay you. Your lateness cost us a life, a life more valuable than any of your low life crew will ever be worth.”

 “She was in need of those parts so I could complete her new functioning lung as hers was giving out and life support was becoming too costly. I had to put her down to end her suffering because of you. A fine specimen she was, taken too soon.”

 Yondu opened up the file and quirked an eyebrow at the man.

 “What the hell was she?”

 “When I picked her up from a man who was obsessed with all things Terran, she was nothing. A barely evolved, non-sentient creature known as an otter. The other creature I got that day is all I have left. I suppose I can cut the price in half to keep him alive and as an apology for nearly killing your son who seems quite valuable himself.”

 “You want to keep yer life now you better double the original offer,” Yondu hissed shoving the papers to the ground, “Let’s get something straight: I don’t like you. We ain’t friends and no one, god damn no one, is allowed to even suggest my boy needs to be caged for the name of shit. Especially yer god damn science.”

 “I never said that.”

 “But ya implied it. I know yer type. Thinkin’ my boy must be worth somethin’, he ain’t even out of his mama yet and I got to worry about scum like you wanting to buy him.”

 “For the love of the gods,” the man hissed, his patience finally cracking, “I will pay you to just leave at this point. You are wasting valuable time. I need to get back to my patients.”

 He slid Yondu over a units card before turning his attention away from Yondu entirely, holding up his finger to signal Yondu to be silent before answering his communicator.

 “Yes?”

 “Is that so? I’ll be there in a minute.”

 He smiled at Yondu, a smile that made even Yondu’s insides twist a little.

 “It was a pleasure dealing with you. Leave the supplies where we instructed and please leave, our business is done here.”

 Yondu opened his mouth to demand an explanation but he got none from the man who was already disappearing.  

 Yondu wasn’t the trusting sort and didn’t leave anything to chance. Something wasn’t right and he was gonna find out why the hell the doctor gave up on this so easily.

---

 Meredith frowned it was too easy to get into this place, all she did was walk into the back entrance. No security, no check points, nothing but a sterile smell and an eerie silence that made goosebumps break across her arms. She didn’t like this, it didn’t feel right.

 The place felt like a Terran hospital. Cold, devoid of emotion or life, a beeping coming from one of the rooms and just so damn quiet.

 She ran her finger over her stomach feeling Peter kicking up a storm in there, he must have sensed her unease.

 “Its alright baby boy, we’re just gettin’ daddy before they decide to check him in this place.”

 She had heard stories about Half World and none were pleasant ones. Former employees of this facility coming back to their home worlds changed, all talking about what monsters this place turned them into for the sake of progress and science. No patient had ever been recorded to leave this place. Once you checked it, that was it, you were done for, you were donating your body to science.

 That lump in the pit of her stomach grew tighter knowing this was all legal. Half world didn’t have to go by any laws set by the Galactic Federation nor The Kree Empire (which had been enforcing more Federation laws since the signing of the treaty) making anything they did to you behind these walls legal. First class with health care, they had found cures to a number of diseases that many planets accepted happily but the cost was what happened to the patients to get those results.

 She wasn’t letting Yondu face this thing alone, something bad was keeping him and this planet wasn’t getting the father of her son.

 “Peter, baby, its ok,” she whispered again running her fingers over her stomach taking peaks into the rooms. There weren’t many patients here and the ones she did see were on full life support making her more uneasy.

 Peter was restless today, kicking and kicking. Not even born yet and he knew when they were in a bad situation. She needed to turn back for his sake, but she was stubborn and needed to do this on her own.

 Something caught her attention ahead of her, it was someone yelling and it seemed all the staff was with that person yelling. Slowly she crept forward, sliding across the wall, fingers latching onto each door knob she passed by testing them in case she needed somewhere to disappear into fast.

 “You fucking killed her!!!”

 “Calm down, you are only doing harm to yourself. The female otter had no way of surviving as we have been telling you---”

 “No!! SHUT THE FUCK UP!!! You could have done more but you didn’t because she didn’t matter---!!!”

 “That is very untrue, all our patients matter immensely and we are sad the otter did not make it.”

 “Then call her by her fucking name and not treat her as some kind of animal!”

 “Calm yourself or we will be forced to drug you---”

 Meredith was finally at the door where the screaming was coming from, she peaked into the room and did not like what she saw.

 A raccoon (she learned long ago not to question these things) was hanging off one of the large lights in the room and several doctors were surrounding him.  

 They were trying to get the raccoon down and by the looks of it, he had every right to stay where he was far away from these people. The pink shade of skin peaking from their white scrubs told Meredith they were kree and that meant this would not be an easy fight if she got caught. They were armed with more than just needles too she noted eying the blasters on their sides, this would not end good for her or her son. The smart thing would be turn away while they were distracted and leave, go back to her crew but she couldn’t leave the poor creature by himself. That wasn’t in her nature. She did a lot of shitty things since she joined Yondu but leaving someone to suffer wouldn’t be on that list.

 She took a deep breath and decided to use her condition to her advantage. A room full of doctors weren’t likely to kill a pregnant woman.

 “Excuse me!” she yelled opening the door clinging to her stomach for good measure.

 “I’m going into labor! My captain is doing a deal right now for medical supplies and we can’t leave and I need help right now desperately!”

 “Please calm down ma’am, “one of the five doctors said turning away from the raccoon refusing to come down from his spot.

 “We can help please just give us a moment.”

 “I don’t have a moment, ya idiot! The baby is comin’ now and he’s impatient!! Please!!!” she dropped to the ground letting fake sobs travel through her, clinging tighter to Peter still kicking away, “I need to make sure my baby is OK!!! Yer doctors aren’t ya?!”

 She latched onto one of the doctor’s hands, screaming louder in fake agony making a few more of them turn towards her fearing the worst. She looked up, letting out one of her best fake cries to date and caught eyes with the raccoon for just a second and sent him a wink that he returned with a shake of the head at her display.

 It was his only chance to take her distraction and he seemed to get that, climbing down slowly while all eyes were on Meredith screaming loudly. One of the doctors com’d for the head doctor to please come to them immediately.

 “What species are you, ma’am? Are you Xandarian?”

 “No…Terran…please just help me!!! I can’t hold on much longer!! My baby boy is coming!!! I need my boyfriend here. He’s with your head doctor!”

 “We have called him, ma’am, please just be patient. Breath. Your life is not in any danger, you are perfectly safe here.”

 The scowl the raccoon wore as he unscrewed the vent while Meredith had all eyes on her told a different story.

 Luck wasn’t completely on their side though, one doctor glanced up during the commotion and spotted the raccoon trying to make his getaway. He yelled out and two other doctors jumped up with him going towards the rodent. Meredith had always been a quick shot though, pulling out her blaster and shooting two in the back before they could get too far.

 At that moment, their gig was sadly up. The head doctor had arrived and he didn’t look happy. The momentary distraction of his arrival was all they needed to disarm Meredith, her heart began to beat erratically. She was fucked now. She may have saved the rodent but now she was taking poor Peter down with her.

 “We may have lost the raccoon but I think you should be a more then welcome replacement, miss. Welcome to half - world, you and your son’s new home.”

 An arrow flew through at that moment, taking out two of the doctors holding her and she smiled seeing her boyfriend enter the fray.

 Her happiness was short lived as the head doctor grabbed her and shoved a blaster against her neck.

 “Hi, sugar…” she said meekly smiling at her boyfriend who was glaring daggers at her, the fallen doctors surrounding his feet.

 “Hello sweetheart, ya havin’ fun gettin’ caught and endangering our son for some rat?”

 “Not my idea of an afternoon but it wasn’t completely awful, I shot some guys before ya came and ruined ma fun,” she chuckled and scowled as the blaster was shoved more forcefully against her head.

 “I think you both have had more than enough ‘’fun’’ destroying my facility. Leave now Udonta or your wife…”

 “Girlfriend, we ain’t ready to settle down like that yet.”

 “Fine, girlfriend, fuck toy, what ever this bitch is,” he snarled his cool composure breaking further tightening his grip on Meredith who groaned in protest.

 “You let my patient escape. Go who knows where and I think its fair to say you owe me. I have never encountered a Terran before and certainly not a Terran hybrid, so the child will be enough for me. Whether you get the woman back alive or not is to be seen.”

 “You shoot me and I shoot the woman. Both die. You stand down and maybe I will show mercy on your ‘woman’ here and you can both leave together but after all the trouble you have cost me, you are not keeping the child. He is mine now as payment for all my work you have ruined!”

 Meredith began squirming at that, he was not having her son. She looked  towards Yondu with fear but his eyes promised he wouldn’t touch a hair on their son’s head.

 Before either could decide what to do though, the doctor let go of Meredith letting her stumble away from the man who had been holding her. Her arm tight around her stomach, desperately trying to protect her son as Yondu grabbed hold of her, pushing her protectively behind him.

 The raccoon from earlier was standing on top of the doctor’s unmoving form, a needle in his hand that was shaking.

 “Don’t worry about him, he won’t be getting up. I did to him what he did to Lyla.”

 He began walking away from them and Meredith shoved away from her scowling boyfriend in a flash chasing after him the best she could asking him to wait.

 He turned his head towards her and she smiled.

 “Please allow us to repay ya for helpin us out there and give ya a lift to where ever ya want ta go.”

 He shrugged.

 “Not like I had anywhere to go anyway.”