Chapter Text
"Sir," one of the nurses in the hospital sounded irritated. "You can't just walk in here like this! You don't even have a real shirt on!"
"I can do what I want an' if ya got a problem you can move on over an' pretend it don't bother ya!"
Peter groaned and rested one arm over his eyes. "Shhh hush I'm trying to sleep."
"Boy. Not anymore. Get up. 'M here to to see my new grandkid."
"Shh!" Peter repeated again, opening his eyes and sitting up. "Be quiet, Yondu!"
"Don't go telling me what to do, boy." Yondu stepped in to the room and took a seat in one of the chairs beside Peter's bed. He motioned to the baby wrapped up and cradled in Peter's arm. "Lemme see 'er."
"Just be careful with HIM," Peter said, handing the child over to Yondu. "Oh god. Why are you wearing that fur coat!?"
"I always wear it," Yondu huffed, cradling the child in his arms. "Suddenly it's a problem around here!?"
"It's not the coat that's the issue," Peter grumbled. "It's the fact that you'll wear a big ass coat no matter what the temperature, but you refuse to wear a shirt."
"It's fashion," Yondu said, scooting his chair closer to the bed. "So what's his name?"
"Samuel. Samuel Alexander."
"It's...Terran."
"I'm Terran." Peter shrugged.
Yondu reached a hand out to brush it through Peter's hair. "How're you feelin', boy?"
"Everything hurts and I wanna sleep for a billion years," Peter replied, closing his eyes. He yawned, as if his body was proving a point. "Im so tired."
"Get some rest, then, kid."
"But--"
"I'll take care of little Sammy here while ya sleep. Also, I need to have another talk with that big blue fella when he gets here."
"Leave Ronan alone, Dad," Peter said sleepily. "He's a good guy and he ain't done nothin wrong...he...loves me..."
Peter fell deeply asleep within the next five minuets, leaving Yondu alone with Sam.
The baby only blinked and stared up at him blankly, humming every now and again, as if he were figuring out how to use his vocal chords.
"You're a cute lil bugger, ain't ya?" Yondu said, being extremely gentle with the child. Despite being captain of the ravagers, he wasn't always a rowdy beast. He knew how to deal with children and babies. "Ya got lots'a hair, too. But it's all black. Ya prolly get that from Ronan. My Petey ain't got hair that dark. But ya got them big green puppy eyes, just like he does...I'm hopin' ya grow up to look more like him than yer other daddy. That guy's pretty scary lookin...not that I'm scared of him– cuz I ain't! I'll kick his ass from here to the next galaxy any day! He just ain't as...charming as my Petey."
Sam gazed up at Yondu one last time before closing his eyes to follow Peter's lead and take a nap.
Just then, Denarian Saal entered the room, carrying a large nova helmet. Yondu raised an eyebrow. This helmet was different than the usual nova gear. It was black, for starters, and the red star on the front was large and only had four points as opposed to the eight on a normal helmet. The bottom of the helmet flared outward, forming two sleep wings on either part of the neckline.
"Pete's sleepin," Yondu said, prepared to shoo Saal away.
"How unfortunate," Saal said, looking at Peter who was sleeping soundly. "However, that is unimportant." He held the helmet up. "This helmet is to be gifted to the newborn child, Samuel Alexander Quill, son of Peter Quill: the Legendary Star-Lord, and Ronan the Accuser. The first child to be born on nova corp property in twenty decades, by Nova Prime herself, and the Nova officers in every quadrant of this galaxy." Saal handed the helmet to Yondu, to took it with one hand and awkwardly balanced it and Sam on his lap. "Have a good day," Saal bowed, then retreated.
"Um...thanks?"
After sitting awkwardly for a minuet, Yondu flipped the helmet upside down on his leo and gently put Sam, feet first, inside, using it as a makeshift cradle/holder. He wrapped an arm around the helmet to support Sam's head, which stuck out form the top of the helmet. He felt like he was carrying a large salad bowl. Luckily for little Sam, Baby Salad was not Yondu's ideal choice of food.
Peter slowly brought himself to the world of the waking. The first think he noticed was something warm and semi-soft between his ankles. He lifted his head to see rocket curled up, snoozing at the foot of the bed. Ronan and Gamora sat in chairs beside the bed, and Drax sat on the floor with Groot beside him.
He turned to look at Ronan.
"Why is my baby in a fucking bucket!?"
"I did not do this!" Ronan said, holding up the helmet. "Udonta handed him to me like this!" Peter motioned for Ronan to scoot closer and he carefully plucked he child from the helmet, cradling him in his arms.
"And you took 'im without question!" Yondu protested. Peter turned to look the other way and saw that the man was sitting on the floor beside the wall, holo pad clutched in his hands. "So now it's your problem. And it ain't a bucket. It's a helmet."
"Did you steal it?"
"Actually," Yondu put the holo pad down. "No. Saal came in here ranting some mumbo jumbo about a 'gift from the nova all hail the mighty baby' and shoved the helmet in to my hands. It belongs to the kid now so it ain't my problem. Speaking of problems...my crew are probably out causing problems right now and I need to go put a stop to it," He put the holo pad downs and stood, striding over to the bed. "I dunno if I'll make it back here to visit ya again. I got a lot of stuff to do." He stroked Peter's hair. "But send me a message when ya get outta here, yeah?" He took the baby from Peter. "Don't worry, Sammy. Grandpa'll see ya real soon, an' teach ya everything there is to know about Ravaging." He handed the child back to Peter. "See ya lot around soon enough," he waved to the guardians before exiting the room.
Gamora stood and made her way over to Peter, sitting on the edge of her bed.
"Hey, 'Mora," he smiled up at her. She returned the smile, but she looked troubled. "What's wrong."
"All you have done is sleep. I am worried about you, Peter."
"I'm just really tired, Gammy. See, even Rocket's tired?! He's sleeping!" He motioned to the furry lump by his feet. "The doctor said I'll be good to go in a few days. I just need to rest and take a couple of medicines to make sure I'm healthy and strong."
She stared down at the bundle in Peter's arms.
"What?"
"I want to hold him."
"Well, why didn't you say so?!" Peter handed Sam to the warrior. "Now you gotta hold on to him until someone else wants to hold him. I've been holding him since he was born...that's a long time. I don't want to hold him anymore," Peter chucked. "Actually, it's been like a game of hot potato. I hand him off to whoever I can so I can relax, haha."
She didn't care what hot potato was. She was too focused on the child in her arms. It was the closest thing she had to a nephew.
She briefly wondered what it would be like if she or nebula had children, but that thought vanished. She would never have children. Ever.
For now, she could do her best to help Peter raise this child. It was the most she could do.