Disclaimer: Nope, just a fanfiction writer.
Story: Petra Quill just wanted some downtime. Running into a Nova Corp Officer wasn't in the plan. Neither was getting knocked up. So what to do when splitting from the gang with a baby in tow and after some mysterious orb? That's nothing on that same officer attaching himself to her hip!
Set AU elements the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie.
Spoilers: Yesssssss…
Warnings: Cursing and violence for now…hm, just in case since I'm usually writing it, bit of crazy humor, perverted humor, morbid or sarcastic humor, and maybe some sexual situations…
Pairings: Fem!Peter Quill/Garthan Saal

Can't Take the Sky From Me
Chapter Eight: Let's Learn to Fly Together

The piercing cries of Tiberius broke through her sleep and Petra gritted her teeth. Inwardly, she shook her head at herself and tried to motivate herself to get up and tend to her baby. She tried to remind herself of the times when this kind of thing happened and she had been struggling with motherhood and had tried to ignore the baby. She wasn't going to be like that. Not anymore.

But then Tiberius' crying stopped momentarily and her eyes shot open and she sat up quickly, only to falter and uncertainly watch as Garthan held and rocked their baby. A glance at her door saw that it was open and she wondered how he managed to hear the baby and when he'd come in (and how fast he'd managed to notice and come in). However, those thoughts were immediately pushed aside as Tiberius renewed his crying and Garthan looked uncertain and beginning to panic.

"If he doesn't want to be just held and rocked, then he's either hungry or needs a change," she said sleepily, slipping off her bunk and heading over to him. She leaned around him, ignoring the lack of space, and experimentally touched Tiberius' nappy. She scrunched up her nose.

"Yeah, he needs a change at least," she said and went to take him from Garthan.

"What do I do? How do I do that?" he asked unsurely while keeping a hold of the baby.

Petra eyed him before she grabbed the diaper changing foldup and laid it out on the bed, and then went to grab a fresh diaper and baby wipes.

"Lay him down and unbutton his onesie, and then push it up halfway…" She explained what to do and then took a step back, allowing him to take over and try to change the baby's diaper.

She felt her lips twitch up fondly as she watched, her eyes softening as she observed Garthan carefully doing his best to simply change a diaper, doing so as if he had never done such a thing before in his life (and she thought that was probably amusingly true). And when he was done, she directed him towards her attached bathroom to wash his hands while she picked up the baby and put away everything, throwing away the dirty diaper full of pee.

"Um…I guess I should let you go back to sleep," Garthan interrupted her spaced out daze.

She nodded indifferently to him and he shifted in place before reluctantly leaving. She frowned to herself, slowly rocking Tiberius back to sleep and looked at her closed door. Sighing, she went towards it and stepped out, only to be caught off guard by waking up Garthan, who'd been sitting next to her door and had been nodding off. She blinked. Well, that answered as to how he'd managed to hear Tiberius crying when he was actually right outside her door and not settled in one of the other rooms.

"No wonder you were quick to come in and help," she raised an eyebrow. "Come in."

He scrambled to stand up and hesitantly entered her room. "Are you sure?"

"If you're going to be stubbornly posted outside my door, I'd rather have you helping and not be aching and uncomfortable. Besides, I'm not that heartless," she huffed. She settled back onto her bunk and patted right next to her. "I have a huge bunk, enough for two people. If you're going to be helping out with the baby, at least you'll be comfortable and you'll be in reach and easier to get to him than out there."

He hesitated again, but ended up sitting at the foot of her bunk, taking off his boots and then scooting up until he was next to her. She shifted the baby in her arms and then carefully held him out to Garthan, who took the baby with care. Still, Tiberius was squirming and making noises.

"He's being a little fussy right now," Petra muttered, though she lay down and felt sleepy. She reached out for the data pad next to her and remotely set up her music to play. "Sometimes a little music settles him right down and he'll be asleep again…"

As she closed her eyes, hearing Blackbird by The Beatles playing in the background, she felt herself smiling to herself as she heard Garthan begin to hum to the tune and occasionally singing along to the chorus.

Right before she fell completely asleep, she felt Garthan's hand caress her head briefly and she instinctively wriggled closer to him, sighing contentedly as she drifted off.

Tiberius had fallen asleep in his arms near the end of the song, and Garthan contemplated what he was going to do. For one, he needed to contact Nova Corps (Nova Prime especially) and explain his disappearance and formally request a leave or something of the sort. After that, he needed to take a more active role with Tiberius and figure out how to be a father and continue to take care of him (and learn what he could from Petra). And through that, he could also prove and convince Petra he was a reliable partner and hopefully win her over, along with whatever other ways he could.

Her father was a hot button issue, but maybe if he could continue to show her he was nothing like what she knew of her father, and continue to just be there for her and Tiberius, he'd have a chance at this. She may not believe in him and in this, but he more than did and was willing to do whatever it took to get her to that point with him.

He couldn't help the grin that crossed his face though, as he looked down at his son and watched him sleepily blink his eyes and slowly fall asleep in Garthan's arms. But as he took a glance at Petra's sleeping figure, his grin softened and he felt longing.

Garthan knew he really wanted this. He really did, no matter what Petra's past was, or who or what they were. Maybe she had been (still was?) a criminal and he was an officer of Nova Corps, but he found that he couldn't dismiss her as just a criminal. Not when he remembered the way she touched him or the way she allowed him to touch her…but mostly he couldn't stop thinking of how she looked at him, like she trusted and cared for him and he had a feeling she didn't even realize that. Something about him had hopefully gotten her to instinctively trust him and open up to him, and he wanted her to keep feeling like that. Wanted her to knowingly do so…

Finding his son asleep and feeling the need to sleep himself, he contemplated whether to keep holding him or put him in his crib. Though he would like to not let go of him, he knew that the bunk was just enough to fit him and Petra and if either one of them moved too much the baby could be crushed between them, or if he moved wrong and he let go and Tiberius fell off the bunk. Wincing and feeling paranoid, he gently got up and headed to the crib, where he thought the baby would be safer. He wasn't a small guy either, and he alone could squish and suffocate the baby with his own weight. It was best to be safe, even if he wanted to keep holding onto him.

But without Tiberius, he didn't know what he should do or where to go. He looked at the bunk with a sleeping Petra on it and then carefully remembered and reran her words to him before, and tentatively took it as an invitation to stay with her in her room. With continued hesitation, he went back to the bunk and slid back into place next to her. Though his mind was busy with thoughts, he was quick to find sleep somehow.

When he next awoke, he felt groggy and almost willing to just fall back to sleep, but then there was rustling and quiet cries and he realized that Tiberius was waking again. It surprised him since he knew that Tiberius had woken up before already, and he wondered how long had it been? But then again, he'd heard from Rhomann how his little girl had (as a baby) frequently woken up in the middle of the night, and how between Cecile and he, they had nights of broken sleep all the time back then.

He was about to get up when he noted that to his side was cold and he could hear Tiberius was already settling down and was just sniffling. He opened his eyes to look over to the crib and saw Petra already there. The tiredness he saw from her before was quite obvious now, and he felt sorrow and guilt hit him. Life as a single mother must've been hard on her and he wished he had been there for them sooner. No matter how much he loved being in Nova Corps and seriously took to his oath to be an officer, he would have never have left these two on their own.

"I can," he stifled a yawn as he sat up. "I can take over. You can go back to sleep," he told her.

Realizing he was awake, she turned to him and gave a small smile and a shrug.

"It's fine. I'm already awake."

"You look tired," he pointed out.

She grimaced. "I look and feel tired, but I'm still wide awake."

He frowned, but forced himself to get up and head to her side. He stood quietly by her side and just watched her and the baby.

"He's probably hungry again," she noted. "I'll head to the kitchen and make him a bottle, if a bottle isn't already prepared in the refrigerator."

"I can check and then make one, if there isn't any," he volunteered, and she acquiesced and gave him a grateful look he relished. Heading out first, he saw that there wasn't one and then set out to make a new bottle of formula, remembering how she did it and replicating it down to the last detail.

By the time he was finished, she was in the kitchen and waiting for him to be done at the table.

He handed it to her solemnly. "Maybe right now we can't be partners and have a relationship like that…but we can be parents together. Right?"

Surprised, Petra just looked up at him. She bit her lip and he crowed inwardly in victory when she nodded hesitantly.

"Yeah, I can…I can see that," she said haltingly. "You're…you're a good dad, you know Garthan? Even though you don't know how to do things, you're…you're trying. And I appreciate that. And I…know he would too," she glanced at their son.

He took a deep breath and brushed her hair back. "I'm not your dad," he said quietly. "I may not know him, but I know I'm nowhere going to be like him or do whatever he did."

They stared at each other for a long moment and when she looked away first, he could only hope that meant that he was finally starting to get through to her, even if it was only a little bit.

"You're already 100% better than him," he heard her mutter, and he was going to start grinning again when there was a noise that signaled they were being hailed.

He looked to the communication panel and moved to answer it.

"Wait, don't!" he confusingly heard Petra say in a panic, but it was already too late and he'd answered it, with a semi-familiar man with blue skin appearing in view.

Petra was quick to push him out of view and he stumbled a bit.

"Yondu! What a surprise!"

Started 6/29/17 – Completed 6/29/17

A/n: Oh no, Yondu is going to find out~ XD What's going to happen? Probably chaos and murder, lol. Anyway, where is everyone? It feels like everyone's disappearing on me (pouts). Puh-lease remember to reeevvviiiieew! Pretty please? Reviews are my lifeblood, Revive me?

Anon Reviews:

1. AGirlWithTooManyFandoms: No worries~ I already told everyone I'm going to do that one, and that it's probably going to be the next one to be worked on!