"Charlotte, I see him!" Rocket called.

Charlotte  climbed up the stairs, poking her head into the cockpit.

She pointed at a button on the console that flipped open the hatch, Rocket pressed it, waited until he heard Charlotte's approval, then took his finger off it.

Charlotte launched herself at Peter. Laughing, he hugged her back just as tight.

"I hate you so much," she said into his shoulder. "You had me so worried."

"I wouldn't leave you that easily," he promised.

Peter pulled back, gazing into her beautiful eyes. He remembered saying he wouldn't be the one to make the first move, but he couldn't handle it anymore. He wanted desperately to kiss those pink lips of hers.

Charlotte noticed his eyes flicker down to her lips. Sucking in a breath, she waited for him.

He began to lean down when a certain raccoon obnoxiously cleared his throat. Peter straightened back up, sending a death glare to Rocket.

"Someone needs to pilot the plane, dumb ass," Rocket reminded him.

Peter untangled himself from Charlie, giving her an apologetic smile.

Whether it was for the almost kiss or having to back out on it, she had no idea. She prayed he didn't regret the attempt.

Peter sat in the pilot's seat, ready to type in coordinates.

"We're heading in the right direction," Gamora confirmed.

Peter raised his eyebrow, "You know, if we're going to be partners, you may wanna consider trusting me."

"And how much do you trust me?" Gamora asked.

"I would trust you a lot more if you told me what this thing is," Peter said, pulling out the orb.

Drax took it from Peter, examining it closely, "Is it a weapon?"

"Put it down, fool, you'll destroy us all!" Gamora snapped.

"Or maybe just you, wench."

"I let you live once, princess!"

"I am not a princess!"

"Hey!" Charlie yelled, "Nobody is killing anyone on our ship. Put the orb down, Drax. Gamora, back off."

"Understand that we are not partners, Quill," Gamora turned around to walk up the stairs to the flight deck, "By the way, your ship is filthy."

"She's got no idea," Peter scoffed, "If I had a blacklight.. Place would look like a Jackson Pollock painting.

Rocket looked absolutely disgusted, "You got issues, Quill."

Charlotte decided to completely ignore the comment and focus on where they were flying to.

"Did I miss something?"

"We're aiding Gamora in giving the orb to this buyer. For money," Rocket filled her in, "Also, Ronan is out to claim the orb. He wants it to destroy Xandar and then, the galaxy."

Charlotte decided to go back into her room. She had only five pages left in her book and she desperately wanted to figure out who killed the seamstress.

Face hidden behind her book, Charlotte had no idea that Peter was  close to entering her bedroom. As a warning, he threw a bag of chocolate chips onto her bed.

Charlotte scooted towards the edge of her bed, able to see Peter's smiling face through the hatch.

"To what do I owe this pleasure?" she chimed.

"It crossed my mind only moments ago that I've never actually been in your room," he answered.

"And why should I grant you access after all these years?" she sassed, a flirty smile on her lips.

"My love, I believe the question is, why would you not?"

"True."

Peter climbed down the stairs and fell back into her bed, arms behind his head. 

"It's pretty nice in here," he said.

Charlotte grinned, clambering off her bed. She flipped off the lights, the room being illuminated by the glowing lights on the ceiling.

Peter's mouth fell open, "You..."

"What?" she encouraged,  her head tilting to the side curiously.

"You kept them?" he whispered.

Charlotte swept back her hair, nodding as confirmation, "Of course I did, silly. You gave them to me. I could never throw them away."

Peter grabbed Charlotte's hand and pulled down to her down on the bed with him. Hands intertwined, the two stared at the fake stars above their heads.

Charlotte thought for a second they could spend some time alone together. Surely the group could behave themselves for at least an hour.

She was wrong.

"I was tired of my lady

We've been together too long

Like a worn out recording of a favorite song."

Charlotte sat up, wondering who figured out how to use the cassette player.

"Moment ruiners," Peter grumbled.

The duo climbed up the ladder and around the corner to Peter's bunk, finding Groot bent over the player. Drax was sharpening knives in the kitchen. Gamora paced in front of him. They turned to Rocket and found him tearing apart the floor and attaching wires to a battery.

"Hey! Do not tear up my ship, Ranger Rick!" Peter yelled. He plucked one of Rocket's contraptions from the ground, "What the hell?"

"It's a bomb," Rocket casually answered, "It's got enough power to blow up a moon!"

"And you just leave it lying around?!" Charlotte yelled.

She snatched it out of Peter's hand and set it carefully on the ground.

"I was gonna put them in a box.." Rocket defended, his ears flattening against his head.

"What is a box supposed to do?" Charlie exasperatedly cried.

"What's that?" Peter questioned. He pointed to a box sitting in the middle of Rocket's metal junk.

"That's for when things get really hardcore."

"We aren't blowing up any moons," Gamora reprimanded.

"You've just gotta suck the fun out of everything, don't cha?" Rocket snapped.

Charlotte rubbed her forehead. She had a strong feeling this whole team work thing would not work out in the end. It was quickly established almost everyone hated one another. The only reason they were sticking together was for the money.

"I am Groot."

Charlotte glanced at the tree. Groot pointed out of the window, at the floating head in the distance.

"We're at Knowhere!" Charlotte called over her shoulder.

Peter raced up to land the ship before Rocket could take his spot. The only person allowed in the pilot's seat was him. Maybe Charlotte on a good day.

Charlotte went back to her room to change. She threw on leggings with a grey stripe along the side and a slightly baggy maroon shirt. Grabbing her black lace up boots, she met the team by the doors.

The group had to wait for an assistant to come and fetch them before they could see the buyer, so they decided to aimlessly wander.

"We come from a planet of outlaws," Peter was explaining to Drax, "Billie the kid; Bonnie and Clyde; John Stamos."

Peter smiled down at Charlie as she started giggling at his examples. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, feeling her skinny arm snake around his waist in return.

"Sounds like a place which I would like to visit," Drax informed them.

The group split. Drax, Rocket and Groot dove into a bar. Gamora found a knife shop she wished to explore. Peter took Charlie's hand and ducked through the back alleyway behind the bar.

It was an empty street, illuminated by street lights.

Charlotte pushed herself onto the ledge. Peter moved to be in front of her, hands on both sides of her waist. He wanted to be sure she wouldn't accidentally fall backwards.

Charlotte noticed the over the ear headphones around his neck and reached out to pull them off.

She didn't need to ask why he went back for it. The tape was the last thing left of his mother; he would go to the end of the galaxy to retrieve it, if he needed to.

'Fooled Around and Fell in Love' by Elvin Bishop was lightly playing through the headphones.

"Dance with me," Peter requested.

She shook her head, "I don't want to dance."

In reality, she wanted to kiss him now that they were alone, but she didn't bring that up. Charlotte pulled Peter closer to her and rested her head on his shoulder.

"You know, on my planet there is a legend about people like you," he mumbled into her ear.

"Yeah?" she teased, "What's it called?"

"Footloose."

Charlotte threw her head back in laughter, which gave Peter the opportunity to sweep her into his arms and swing her around. She slung her arms around his neck to try to help with her weight. Her eyes flickered from his brown eyes to his lips. Peter noticed.

Their noses touched. Peter heard Charlotte suck in a breath, and just as their lips brushed, a familiar growl met their ears.

It was followed by a crash.

Peter gently set Charlie back on the ground. She grabbed his hand and pulled him inside the bar. They pushed through the crowd.

Groot stood off to the side with a pout on his face. It wasn't a surprise to Peter and Charlotte that it was Rocket and Drax fighting. Rocket had his gun aimed at Drax.

"Hey!" She yelled, jumping in the middle of them. "What the hell do you two think you're doing?"

She was incredibly stupid for jumping in front of the raccoon. If he was really angry, she was almost positive he would shoot through her to get to Drax. She hoped he had a little more decency than that.

"This vermin speaks of affairs he knows nothing about!"

"That is true!"

"He has no respect!"

"That is also true!"

"Keep on calling me vermin, tough guy! You just wanna laugh at me like everybody else!"

"Rocket, you're drunk, nobody is laughing at you!"

"I didn't ask for this!" Rocket cried.

"Ask for what?" Charlotte inquired.

"I didn't ask to be made! To be torn apart and put together over and over again. To be turned into some little... monster!"

Charlotte had no clue he was genetically modified. Until then, she didn't really make an effort to find out more about him. 

"Rocket.." she mumbled, her attitude dropping.

Peter shook his head at Charlie. He admired the sympathetic factor of his best friend, but this wasn't the best time to show it.

"Let's see if you're still laughing after five or six shots to the frickin' face!" Rocket snarled.

Charlotte screamed as he aimed the gun straight at her, the goal to scare her enough to move her, so he could shoot at Drax.

"Rocket, Rocket, no!" Charlotte yelled, her hands out in front of her, "Just stick with us for one more shitty night and you'll be rich! It's four billion units, man, don't do this!"

"Fine. But I can't promise that when all of this is over I won't kill all of you."

"This is exactly why none of you have any friends!" Peter yelled, "Five seconds after meeting someone, you want to kill them!"

The five of them turned as a door slid open. A pink skinned woman shuffled forward with her hands interlocked.

"The Collector will see you now," she stated.

Gamora was the first to follow. Rocket huffed and joined the line, Groot automatically trailing after him. Peter and Charlie locked hands before following the rest of the group.

None of them noticed Drax's absence.