13 years and 8 months later... Present Day

3rd Person POV with the Guardians

"Gora Gora hey! Wake up!" Rocket shouted at Gora as she thrashed in her seat on the bridge, kicking and scratching at the air but she bolted awake, tail and fur puffed out and eyes looking around frantically, as soon as Rocket put his paw on hers.

"You all good there G?" JJ spoke up from where she was sitting in her seat working on one of her newest bomb designs; one that would spray out a volatile gas that would ignite when given a spark from her, something from one of her sister's favorite movies from Earth that had inspired her to make a real life, bit more destructive version.

*Y-yes I'm alright.. an old nightmare just decided to rear its head...* Gora's vocalizer spoke for her, emotion and all, and she shook herself out to make her fur go back down before preening herself to calm down.

"No kiddin'... one decided to visit me last night and it really spooked me." JJ rubbed the back of her neck from under her long coppery hair as Groot told her from where he was sitting in his seat playing with a leaf on his arm that was slowly growing more muscle,

"I am Groot I am Groooot..." (Ya gotta stop sleeping upside down from the roof...)

"I already told you I don' like layin' down when I sleep." JJ rolled her eyes a bit before her accusing tone turned to a slightly depressed one as she added, "Anyway.. I just get the feeling it might've gotten to Ash too... thought I heard her before I.. landed on my head..."

Groot snickered and JJ tossed a bolt at him making him scowl at her but she just returned it with a stuck out tongue before Rocket suggested, taking the conversation a bit more seriously than before,

"Maybe ya outta check in wi'h her?"

"Nah it's still night on Earth so I wanna wait 'n case it didn't." JJ pulled out and held up her one-way communicator with her sister to reveal that, on Ash's end, the time stamp was 11:47 pm.

*What was your nightmare about?* Gora questioned with her head tilted curiously.

"Hmmm..." JJ leaned back in her seat as she looked up at the ceiling before answering, "Jus' some fuzzy images and voices... screams... think they might be memories of when Ash and I were with Thanos back in the Garden before we went into our five-year power nap."

Rocket heard the barely muttered 'screams' and his ear twitched in agitation at how freaked out his kid sounded so he lightened the mood with a snarked,

"I woul'nt worry about that creep anymore, he got his head taken off and dusted in the same timeline."

"Yeah maybe yer right..." JJ muttered without thinking but Rocket was quick to hear and rub in her face,

"HA! You just admitted I'm right!"

"Dammit!" JJ realized she did and tried to ignore her dad's gloating, reaching into the ship-wide used toolbox for the last component she needed, only to realize they didn't have any more.

"Hey when're we headin' to Knowhere? I need some Aakon-grade metal oxide aerogel capsules to finish these off." JJ held up her nearly completed bomb.

*Why the new shape?* Gora asked, referring to how it was in the shape of an ​​icosahedron instead of an orb.

"Cause explosive gas ain't somethin' you want rollin' around." JJ answered simply with a slight shrug.

"Alright, we'll go to Knowhere for a quick supply run! I don' like hangin' 'round that place longer than we hafta." Rocket started plotting a course.

"Hey where's ever'one else?" JJ finally noticed the five missing Guardians.

*Nebula is in her quarters, and, last I checked, Quill and Thor are in the commissary arguing about superior food combinations while Drax and Mantis watch them and taste test their creations...* Gora batted a paw to her forehead as though to facepalm at the absurdity of it and JJ smirked a bit before muttering for only Gora to hear,

"Gotta love the idiots we surround ourselves with and call family.."

But Rocket heard and his ear twitched in amusement before thinking to himself,

'But I wouln't want it no other way...'

...

Back on Earth

...

'Your people are unbalanced, a plague on the universe...'

'No!'

'And your mother's belief otherwise is what caused her to perish...'

"Haaah!" Ash jolted awake with a gasp as she grasped at her shirt over her hearts, feeling them beat rapidly nearly in sync with her quick breaths as her growing, but still fairly short, hair fell into her face covering her eyes and her pendant bumped against her clenched hand.

"Ash?" A soft knock sounded on the door before it opened and the light turned on to reveal Ash was in the room that was prepared for her on the private island lab Bruce received from Tony during the 5 year Blip.

Bruce was back to his human form but his injured arm was still in a cast as he asked gently while entering the room but stayed by the doorway,

"I heard you shout, is everything alright...?"

"I-I just... hah-had a nightmare..." Ash admitted shakily as she tried to get her breathing under control before she started hyperventilating and brushed her hair out of her face.

"You gonna try writing it down this time?" Bruce motioned to the blue journal on the bedside table he got for her after the first nightmares started appearing months before but Ash had always claimed to forget what she was dreaming about so she hadn't written in it yet.

Ash just gave a hesitant shrug and looked down at her hands as they clenched at her blankets and Bruce looked down with a rueful smile as he spoke,

"You'd think after 13 years of doing this I'd be better prepared to deal with this kind of stuff..."

"Well technically five of those were me and JJ in a time coma so I don't think those count." Ash tried to joke with a matching expression but it didn't quite land with either of them until Bruce broke the slightly awkward silence with,

"Well how about we go make some tea?"

Ash nodded and got out of bed about to walk out when Bruce stopped her with,

"Hey put on some socks."

"Daaad." Ash whined a little, preferring to be barefoot around the house, but Bruce leveled her with a stern 'please don't argue with me' look and she relented to pull on the fluffy slipper socks that were decorated with hers and her fellow Avengers' insignias and symbols before walking out of the room with him as he told her,

"I just don't want you getting sick, it's freezing out here."

And it was with the open space of the house letting in the cool, midnight beach breeze but luckily they were both wearing oversized long sleeved shirts and sweatpants to keep the chill away as they made it to the kitchen.

Bruce set about grabbing the mugs and tea bags with his good arm while Ash filled the tea kettle with water from the tap and placed a hand against the side to rapidly heat up the water, the high-pitched whistle sounding within seconds.

After pouring the water into each of the mugs and going to sit at the dining table as the tea steeped, Bruce finally asked,

"Do you wanna talk about them? The nightmares?"

Ash looked down at her steaming mug as she muttered,

"I don't really remember a lot about them..."

"Well what do you remember? If you start to describe what you remember, the rest should start to reappear..."

Ash sighed knowing he wasn't going to drop it and so she closed her eyes to try recalling,

"It starts off with seeing myself and JJ back in the Garden... Thanos is there... he tells us.. that 'our people are a plague on the universe' and that 'our mother believing otherwise is what caused her to perish...' and then he-" Ash choked on her words cuing Bruce to put his hand on hers to comfort her as he gently soothed,

"Hey... it's OK.. you're not there anymore.. he can't hurt you.. you and your sister are safe..."

They both took a few seconds of guided deep breaths before Ash could calm down enough to continue,

"Then.. he told us about how 'valiently' our people tried to protect our world," Ash emphasized the condescending tone used on 'valiently' before continuing, "and he mentioned one who wielded water, swiftly yet gracefully, with eyes that mirror a tortured warrior... poetic right?" She asked with another rueful smile and Bruce watched the way she clenched her pendant with her free hand as he asked carefully,

"He was talking about your mom wasn't he...?"

Ash just nodded before she finally opened her eyes back up and released her pendant to take a sip of her steeped tea so its calming influence could take effect.

"I know it's been hard these last couple of months and I can't even.. imagine what it feels like for you or your sister... recovering from something like that.. But just know that I have been and will continue to be with you here every step of the way you're figuring this out... even when you need time alone to process, I'll still be nearby.."

"I know..." Ash gave a small grateful smile and Bruce stood up from his seat before going to pull Ash into a hug with his good arm before asking nobody in particular,

"What did I do to deserve such an amazing, thoughtful, wonderful kid as you?"

"By being a kind, open-minded man who took in a scared little girl with probably no hesitation.." Ash smiled as she hugged back.

"Oh there might've been some hesitation going in but looking back on it.. challenges and all.. I wouldn't have wanted it to happen any other way..."

Ash started crying at that and when they pulled apart from the hug, Bruce brushed the tears off her face with his good hand before telling her,

"C'mon you should try to get some more sleep before morning. It's shopping day remember?"

"Hehe OK.." Ash gave a watery laugh at that as she finished mopping her face dry with her sleeve before finishing off the last of her tea and putting her mug in the sink along with Bruce's before he assured her as they returned to her room,

"I'll stay with you till you fall back asleep."

And Ash gave a grateful smile at that before settling back under her covers and Bruce pulled the chair from her carving desk over to her bedside and used his hand to gently brush over her face trying to close her eyes as she smiled before her eyes stayed closed and a few minutes later her breathing evened out to signal she'd fallen asleep.

Bruce stayed for a few minutes longer in case the nightmares came up again but the whole time he watched Ash's peaceful expression wishing it could stay there forever as he thought,

'How much longer can we stay with this peace...?'

2051 Words

Longish AN- So some time reference notes here that maybe I should make clear before the story continues any further;

By Earth standards:

- Ash and JJ were born in the year 2000, Ash was born already a year old

- Chrysinthea was invaded in 2010 when Ash was 11 and JJ was 10

- Ash was taken in by Bruce in 2011 while JJ was found by Rocket and Groot in 2012

- Because of the aging backwards that Ash underwent on Sakaar, she became the same age as JJ

- In 2018 when Thanos Snapped they were both 18 but, in the 5 year Blip period, they didn't age in their comas so in 2023 Endgame they were still 18 physically and mentally

- This story takes place in mid to late 2024 when they're 19 years old

Sorry if that was really confusing to follow, and I could still be wrong since math and numbers aren't really my forte and the whole Sakaar bit made it more complicated, but I just wanted to make sure that their ages were clarified and that by human standards they're teenagers but since Chrysintheans live for thousands of Earth they can still be considered kids to their people.

On that note, sorry for posting a week late and enjoy these mini fluffy family moments while you can, cause soon you'll be wishing for more with all the trauma these kids are about to go through...

Until the next chapter, Bye!