Chapter Text
“Karley?” Gwen peaked her head out of the bedroom door and shouted down the hallway. “Karley Jake?” She heard a small voice giggle back to her from one of the corridors, though she couldn’t tell which. She stood in her Ravager uniform in the middle of the hallway, with her hands on her hips. “Stakar Jacob, get your little blue butt back here, now!” Another squealy giggle echoed back to her. She ran towards the sound, but Stakar, or Karley as he was now known on the ship, was too fast for her. She heard his little feet patter down another hallway. She knew he wasn’t supposed to be playing. He was being naughty and she needed to find him, but his little game of hide and seek had her grinning anyway.
“Karley boy, I’m gonna find you.” She crooned to the little boy as she tip toed around another corner. She heard him squeal again and take off at a run in the opposite direction. Gwen smirked and chased after him.
Yondu’s heavy boots were rounding the corner when the little boy slammed right into him. “What’s goin’ on here!” Yondu barked to the toddler and Karley screamed excitedly. Yondu grabbed Karley by the waist and threw him up in the air, making the boy giggle happily. He held him close and tickled the little boy’s belly as he laughed.
Gwen ran around the corner and gave her son a scolding look, “Karley Jake, what have I told you about running off?”
Yondu gave Karley a stern scowl, “You know better than to disobey your momma, boy.”
“Sowwy Daddy.” Karley hugged his daddy around the neck and Yondu patted him on the back.
“Tell your momma you’re sorry.” Yondu handed the boy back to his mother.
“Sowwy Momma.” Karley hugged Gwen tight and kissed her cheek.
“Alright, now let’s go take that bath, mister.”
Yondu gave Gwen a hesitant look and stopped her before she walked off, “Hey, I gotta go take care of some business before I head back to the room. I’ll help you put him to bed in a bit.”
Gwen looked back at him inquisitively, “Everything okay?” He was usually done with ship business by dinner time and they didn’t have any new jobs since last week, that she knew of, so this bit of ‘business’ seemed odd to her.
“Yeah, don’t worry about it. I’ll be back in a bit.” He patted her on the butt and kissed her before walking off.
“Alright Karley boy, let’s get you ready for bed.” Gwen headed back to the room with her toddler baby clutched in her arms. She wasn’t about to let him go again. He was a runner, and he was fast.
It had been almost a year since she gave birth to Stakar, but he grew like a weed. According to Doc, he was both physically and mentally the equivalent age of a three year old Terran. But just like his growth in the womb, he was just about right on track for a Centaurian. It seemed he got most of his daddy’s genes. He was almost genetically identical to his father, minus the fin. The only things he seemed to get from his mother were her hazel eyes and her black hair. But Gwen didn’t mind at all. To her, he was the most beautiful and remarkable child ever. He wasn’t as strong as a Centaurian, but he was still much stronger than a Terran. Yondu liked that just fine, because then he would never have to worry about his son challenging him as he got older. Or at the very least, he would never win.
Peter had visited Gwen’s family the weekend of Robbie’s eleventh birthday, almost one month after Karley’s birth. As much as they pestered and prodded him for information, he refused to reveal why she couldn’t be there. Only that she was doing fine, but just couldn’t make it out that year and she apologized for missing his birthday. Peter gave Gwen the lowdown on how the party went and gave her pictures that Marianna, Gwen’s mother, had given him for her. Gwen hung them proudly on the glass doors of the liquor cabinet next to the dining table in their room. She showed them to Karley often, letting him know who they all were. She didn’t want him to miss out on family just because they lived out in the middle of space.
Seelie stayed on with the crew after Karley’s birth. Just like most of the ship, she fell in love with the little Centerran immediately. She couldn’t imagine parting with either him or Kraglin, or Gwen for that matter. Seelie looked up to Gwen like a big sister. She helped her anytime she was having problems with Kraglin, and they bonded over being the only two females on the ship. She also helped out with watching Karley anytime Gwen was working with Yondu, or they needed ‘alone time’. She loved to take him all over the ship, playing hide and seek and tag. He would run around the rec room, jumping on furniture and bouncing off the walls while Seelie chased him down and tickling him when she caught him. She only ever caught him when he wanted to be caught though. Seelie knew it, but she acted excited every time he let her, just to watch him laugh and giggle. The only one who was ever actually able to catch Stakar was Yondu. But he didn’t have to run after him very often. Usually all it took was a stern growl from his father and he would straighten up.
“Momma, is my birfday nex week!” Karley smiled widely at his mother.
“I know! Aren’t you excited?” She encouraged as they walked back into the room.
“We gonna hab a pardy?” He asked, wide eyed.
“That’s right.” Gwen stood him up on the bed and he began bouncing up and down while Gwen tried to strip his clothes off of him. “And Uncle Peter is coming too!”
“Yay!” Karley bounced even higher. He loved spending time with his funny Uncle Peter and his friends.
“Okay, okay. Let’s get you in the tub Karley boy.” Gwen chuckled at his exuberance.
Gwen gave Karley a bath that ended up drenching her and about half of the bathroom floor. There was nothing this kid did half-assed. With Karley Jake, it was all or nothing. He had his father’s energy and he loved to use it. As soon as she pulled him out of the tub and dried him off, Karley took off like a dart. He ran around the room like a bullet, climbing up and over the bed and the couch when they got in his way.
“Look Momma! I nekked!” Karley squealed.
Gwen ran for the bedroom door and stood in front of it like a goalie. The last thing she needed was to chase down a naked blue streak running through the ship. Especially while his father was doing ‘business’.
Just then, Karley stopped quick in front of the window. He stared out, blinking into the stars. “What dat, Momma?”
Gwen’s stomach sank. She ran to the window and grabbed Karley, turning him to embrace him in a hug. “Don’t you worry about nothing out there, baby.” She patted him on the back while looking closer out the window. Sure enough, there were at least four silhouetted bodies floating out into space. Gwen now understood what that ‘business’ was that Yondu needed to take care of. She swallowed hard, “Come on buddy. Let’s get your jammies on.”
Gwen had just finished dressing Karley for bed when Yondu walked in.
“Daddy!” he jumped up and ran to his father.
“There’s my Karley boy!” Yondu grinned and scooped the toddler up, tossing him into the air before hugging him tight. Karley laid his head down on Yondu’s shoulder and yawned. He handed the boy back to Gwen. He let out a deep sigh and took his jacket off, hanging it over the back of a chair. Gwen gave him a knowing look and he just shook his head in exasperation. He walked to the closet in the bathroom and pulled out a hanger.
“Some of those new boys you just hired?” Gwen asked casually, so as not to scare Karley. She brushed the boy’s hair and he yawned again.
“Yup.” Yondu took off his vest and hung it on the hanger. “Some of ‘em seem to’ve thought me havin’ a little one runnin’ around meant I was easy pickins.” He hung his coat over the vest and hung them up in the closet.
“Welp,” she said as she tucked Karley into their bed, kissing him on his forehead before his eyes faded into sleep, “at least the rest of ‘em know now how wrong they were.” She stood up and hugged Yondu around the waist.
Yondu kissed Gwen hotly, grabbing her neck and the small of her back. He pulled away with a smile and walked over to the bed to kiss his son goodnight. He stared at him for a long moment, brushing his shaggy hair out of his eyes. Yondu spoke softly, not wanting to wake the boy, “It’s my job to keep you two safe, and I’ll be damned if I let anyone try to hurt either of you.”
Gwen leaned over and rubbed Yondu’s shoulders, kissing him on his back. “Come take a bath with me.”
They both walked into the bathroom with Yondu shutting the door behind them. “We gotta get a lock on the inside of that door to the hallway, now that the little stinker knows how to open it.”
Gwen chuckled, unbuttoning Yondu’s shirt, “Get Gef down here to take care of it. But you know it won’t be long before he figures out the code, and then we’ll really be screwed.” She pulled his shirt off and tossed it in the pile in the closet.
Yondu scoffed and shook his head, “That kid is too smart for his own good.” He turned on the water, waiting for it to warm up. “He gets that from his momma.” He smirked.
“Nah,” Gwen took out her ponytail and pulled off her shirt, “He gets that from you, just like everything else.”
Yondu unsnapped Gwen’s bra and pulled it off. He kissed her neck lustfully and grabbed himself a handful.
Gwen giggled, “Hey now. We made a deal, no naughty business with Karley in the room.” Her eyes rolled in the back of her head. She was trying really hard to keep her word, but he wasn’t making it easy.
“I don’t see him in here, do you?” he mumbled and then went back to tending to her neck.
Gwen scoffed and smacked Yondu on the arm, “He’s in the bedroom, it counts.”
Yondu smirked at her and unbuttoned her pants, “If we lived in a regular house, he’d still be just a room away. You’d condemn me to celibacy then?”
Gwen thought about it for a moment and then looked back at Yondu with a grin. “This is why you’re the smart one.” She kissed him fervently and grabbed for the buttons on his pants. She got them undone, but then he pulled away.
“Hang on.” He said excitedly. He cracked the door open and peaked out to make sure the boy was still fast asleep on the bed. He closed it quietly, and then he unplugged the tub, but kept the water running. “Background noise.” He winked at her before ripping her pants off and picking her up by the waist. Gwen giggled and they made love with her pinned up against the back wall.
After their bath, Gwen and Yondu climbed into bed, one on each side of the sleeping boy. Gwen turned to face Yondu, and Yondu to Gwen. They laid there, staring into each other’s eyes for a long time while Gwen stroked Karley’s hair. She finally looked down at her son and sighed. “My heart is so full,” she whispered.
Yondu smiled and pushed Gwen’s hair behind her ear, stroking her cheek with his thumb, “Can’t be more than mine.”