#a few hours of mama daughter bonding and Cassie is good for a while until she misses mama’s closeness again

[caitlynmeow]

Out of Alcina’s three daughters, Cassandra is the one that poses the most challenge.

Often times, Alcina doesn’t know how to proceed with her middle daughter especially. Cassandra is sassy, she has a sharp tongue, an attitude, can argue until she’s blue in the face, knows how to put someone in their place, can be very intimidating at times, and can hold a grudge forever.

The problem Alcina faces here is the fact that Cassandra is very much like her, personality wise. Like Cassandra’s fiery temper? Picking the right words to get under someone’s skin? Using sound logic to justify everything wrong that she did? Having a confident threatening aura just because??? Try as she might, Alcina can’t look away from how Cassandra takes after her in more than just looks.

Tl;dr, Cassandra has her mama’s personality and Alcina is often caught between “she’s just like me” and “I have to stop this” but since she’s a big softie and also realizing that this is genetic she lets Cassandra get away with A LOT.

[elisaphoenix13]

Trigger The Light (Ch.1)

It was just the three of them. Tony, Nebula, and Quill. The men were in bad shape after almost a month of drifting in space (Quill could keep them on track for Earth, but actually flying the ship would burn their resources faster), and miraculously, Carol found them and got them back to Earth. They were both taken into the compound and given an IV before meeting up with the remaining Avengers and discussing their next move. Tony shut down when he saw Stephen and Peter on the screens in front of them, as well as another teenage boy, and when he tried to leave the room, he collapsed. Quill kept uncharacteristically quiet throughout the whole thing as he studied each face that popped up on the screens, and only when the others talked about going after Thanos did he say something.

"The ship needs repairs." He mumbles.

"How long will that take?" Steve asks and Rocket was the one to answer.

"We can leave in the morning. Quill...you gotta stay. You're in no shape to go back out there."

Quill shrugs. "For once in my life, I want to stay on Earth. Just make sure you bring my ship back in one piece."

That had been the end of that conversation. The able bodied team members left to confront Thanos in space the next morning, and Tony and Quill took the next few days to recover. The engineer's baby daughter had survived the snap out of his entire immediate family, and when they were well enough to leave the medical ward, he approached Quill in the common area. The outlaw had been lazily scrolling through the internet on one of Tony's Starkpads, but nothing processed in his mind. He wasn't in the mood to try to catch up on what happened in the past thirty years while he was gone, and he didn't really see the point because of the Snap.

"Quill."

The man looks up at Tony and finds not only baby Diana on his hip, but also another little girl standing beside him with an overnight bag. He had recently met her just a couple of days ago, found out her name was Cassie, and that her Dad was one of the victims of the Snap. Her mother and stepfather were in the middle of traveling and they had no way of contacting them.

"I...I can't stay here. I bought a cabin by a lake and I'm taking the girls with me. You're welcome to come if you want."

Quill looks at the trio standing a few feet away and he nods. "Yeah...sure."

__________________________

Five years passed. Tony and the girls made the best of it, and Quill stayed because he bonded with Diana and Cassie. It wasn't like there was much for him out in space anyway. Rocket and Nebula were borrowing his ship, out doing who knows what, (helping out the world and the universe probably) and Quill was helping Tony raise the girls. Well, not so much raising...just helping. Being the uncle Diana called him and making sure Tony didn't get lost in his head or lock himself in his lab too long. There were very few pictures of his late family around the house and those few still hurt the engineer to look at sometimes.

"UNCLE QUILL!" Diana yells from outside, and the pirate flies off the couch and out of the cabin to find the little girl standing under the apple tree and looking up. Cassie was a couple feet away reading a book.

"Shit, don't scare me like that. What do you need kiddo?"

"I want an apple!"

Quill looks up at the tree and, considering how high up the lowest apple was, figured that not even Cassie would have been able to reach. He was the tallest member of the household anyway so it made sense that Diana automatically thought to ask him for help. With a smile, he grabs three apples, tells the little girl to wait, and walks back inside with the fruit to wash them. After that, he goes back outside and hands one to Diana before following her over to her little fort and handing another apple to Cassie.

"Is Tony in his lab again?" She asks as Quill sits on one of the lawn chairs and Dia crawls into her fort.

"Nah. I think he's making dinner actually."

"At least it's not you. We still haven't refilled the fire extinguisher." Cassie sasses and Quill flicks her forehead.

"Maybe we should talk about that window you broke-"

"Okay truce!"

Cassie bats away his hand and he chuckles as Gerald walks over to see what all the excitement is about. The alpaca nudges Quill with his muzzle when he notices the man's apple, and the pirate groans before taking a knife out of his pocket. He cuts off a slice and offers it to the animal and then gently pushes him away.

"Alright, now get out of here. Go raid the garden."

He stands up and herds the alpaca away from the girls' area and he watches curiously as a car pulls into the driveway. As far as he knew, neither he nor Tony were expecting company, so he waits until the car is parked and sighs when Steve and Natasha climb out of the car. Another person gets out of the back seat but was quickly hidden behind Steve as the trio made their way over to Quill.

"It's been a hot minute since we've seen you." He says to them and pulls the Captain into a hug. The hug gave him the opportunity to see who else came with them and it had his eyes widening. He recognized the man as someone that had been on the monitors when he and Tony made it back to Earth. A Snap victim.

Steve moves away and motions toward the shorter man as Diana leaves her fort to hug Natasha. "This is Scott. Scott Lang. He's-"

"Not to be rude, but they said Cassie was here." Scott interrupts.

Before Quill can turn to ask Cassie if she knew this man, she was rushing past him and falling into Scott's arms. The way he held Cassie was clear enough to the pirate that Scott was Cassie's father, and it brought a warm feeling to his chest. It was nice to see that the teen got one of her parents back and how happy it made her. Quill loved the girls. They were family, and he would do anything to keep them happy.

"I'm a little confused." He finally says after a few minutes of letting Scott and Cassie reunite and they all look at him. "Weren't you snapped?"

"No. That's partially why we're here." Steve answers.

"Explanation after food. I'm starving." Scott says just as the screen door opens.

"Hey! Chow time!" Tony yells as he heads toward them after stepping off the patio. He raises an eyebrow when he notices the three extra people. "Good thing we always make extra. Porcupine eats like Capsicle."

Tony then notices Scott and his mouth drops open as the younger man leaves Cassie's side and hugs the engineer. Tony pats his back in bewilderment and Scott pulls away after a few seconds to endlessly thank him for taking care of Cassie. They all go inside, Natasha carrying Diana on her hip, for dinner and once Scott gets a good amount of food into his stomach, he explains where he had been the last five years. The conversation did get sidetracked to Cassie's care again and Tony had recovered enough from his earlier shock to hold his hand up to quiet Scott.

"Hang on. I'm not the only one that took care of her. Quill had a part in it too."

Quill stops chewing on his bite of pasta and shakes his head after swallowing his food. "I didn't do anything." He clears his throat when Scott's golden eyes settle on him. "Tony did all the...parenting. I just...babysat sometimes I guess."

Tony and the girls immediately denied his words. They let Scott know that Quill did a lot for them just like Tony, and Scott stared at the pirate for a few more moments before turning the conversation back to the subject of the Quantum Realm and his theory. When time travel came up, Tony rubbed his hand over his face as he thought it over.

"We've all lost someone. Maybe I didn't lose a lover, but I still lost friends." Scott says quietly and Steve nods.

"We all did. We lost friends...family. You lost your kids."

Natasha reaches across the table to gently grab Tony's trembling hand. "You lost Mama Bear too. We all lost him. He means everything to us too. If it weren't for him, this family wouldn't be one."

Tony inhales and let his breath out slowly. "I...I can only promise to try. I don't want this to backfire and end up without more of you. I can't risk the girls."

"That's enough for us. Take all the time you need so you're confident it will work." Steve says.

The billionaire nods and they all finish their dinner on a more positive note. They all caught Scott up on what they could, and afterwards Steve and Natasha left for the compound after Tony promised to call them when he found anything. Scott obviously was going to stay with them because Cassie was with them, and Tony showed him upstairs to the room he would be using. The one next to Quill's.

Quill himself was cleaning up after their meal. Since he couldn't do much cooking, he was usually stuck with the chore to do the dishes and clean the kitchen. Which took him a little longer since there was more to clean. Even though there was a fifth person living at the cabin now, it was still quiet and Quill just assumed that Scott and Cassie were catching up. Maybe all four of them were. Diana was only a baby when the Snap happened but Scott still knew her brothers and Stephen. The pirate was pretty much a stranger. He only knew Stephen and Peter for a few hours.

"Shit!" Quill hisses under his breath when he cuts himself on a knife hidden in the sink full of soapy water.

"There's a reason there's plastic on one end." Scott says from beside him and the pirate nearly jumped out of his skin.

"The hell?! How long have you been standing there?"

Scott smirks and Quill's heart flips at the sight.

Wait.

Where the hell did that come from?

Sure, Gamora was just a really good friend when he lost her, but was he actually attracted to Scott? Maybe the younger man was nice to look at, and maybe his eyes were really pretty in the light of the setting sun...

...Quill was in some serious trouble. It hadn't even been five hours and he was pining after Scott. This wasn't him. He flirted. Looked at potential lovers all together, not specific parts. Not golden eyes, not the shy smile Scott was giving him, not how the man smelled of mint and oranges. Stop. Stop paying so much attention.

"Do you need a bandage or anything for that?" Scott asks as he motions toward Quill's finger.

"No. It's not that deep. I've definitely had worse." The pirate sucks on his finger and then returns to his task of finishing with the dishes.

"I...uh...wanted to thank you. For taking care of Cassie when I couldn't."

"I told you, Tony did everything."

"That's not what he and the girls told me."

"You're welcome then I guess. She's a good kid." Quill says as he puts the last of the dishes on the drying rack and dries his hands. "I thought you would be spending time with her."

"I had a few hours with her, but she and Dia are getting ready for bed."

Quill looks at Scott and blinks. "Hours? How long have I been cleaning?" He looks at the clock. "I must have zoned out. Beer?"

Scott nods and Quill grabs a couple of beers from the fridge, and the two make their way into the living room. Once they collapse onto the couch, Quill hands one of the beers to Scott and then turns on the tv, putting a movie on. The rest of the evening passed in somewhat comfortable silence as they watched the movie, and just when Quill was about to strike up a conversation, he looked over at Scott and found the man fast asleep. He turns off the tv when the movie ends and grabs the blanket off the back of the couch, throws it over Scott, and grabs their empty beer bottles. He rinses them before throwing them in the recycling, and quietly asks FRIDAY to turn off the lights before retiring to bed himself.