The hallway silence was interrupted by Peter's slow and heavy footsteps. He was close. So damn close. He raised his gun, his shoulder making contact with his mask. He turned to the right. And screamed. It was horrible! It wasn't a manly scream, but the thing in front of him was too furry and too ugly he had to scream! His scream was followed by another scream, different from his. And then suddenly, he was being kicked like dozen times on his lower knee.

"Damn it! Damn it, Quill! Don't scare me like that, you bitch!" It was Rocket.

Peter laughed. "It was a joke!" He tried to make Rocket stop kicking him. "Ok, enough!"

Rocket stopped kicking him and grabbed his big gun with a frown on his face. "Alright. But at least I had the pleasure to kick you." Then he smirked. "And what about that unmanly scream of yours?"

Peter rolled his eyes. "Hardy har…" He said sarcastically. "Where are the others?"

"Groot and I got separated. Drax, last time I saw him, was snapping some poor soul's neck and Gamora was looking for The Boss."

The Guardians had been sent to arrest this intergalactic drug dealer nicknamed The Boss that experimented with dangerous drugs, poisons and chemical experiments. They went different ways so they could cover up the perimeter faster before dinner. (Drax was cooking today.) But they were actually getting slower than they thought. And it didn't help that they were being followed by at least thirty guards.

"We need to retrieve." Peter said. "They must have gone back to the Milano."

"You sure?"

"Isn't that our security escape plan number 462?"

"Good point."

Peter and Rocket ran towards another hallway, shooting a few guards that stood in the way. They finally found the exit door and ran towards it. When they opened the door, they found their way back to the woods, where the Milano was cleverly hidden. True to Peter's word, Grot and Drax where there, but… where was Gamora? Peter, pressed a bottom on his mask and revealed his face. A worried face.

"Where's Gamora?"

"We thought she was with you." Drax said.

"I am Groot." Groot agreed.

Peter seemed to think for a moment. He looked his fellow guardians. "Guard the Milano. I'm going back for her."

"Quill, you're insane-"

"She's part of this team. I'm going after her." Peter put his mask back on and ran back to the building.

Rocket stood there unmoving. "He didn't even let me finish. I was going to say he's insane of love for green girl."

"I am Groot."

"Friend Quill is in love? Why wasn't I informed of this?" Drax asked.

Rocket face palmed. "I just informed you…"

OOO

Peter ran carefully through the hallways looking for his beloved Ga- did he say beloved? He meant to say dear friend Gamora. But, he couldn't deny his love for her. He was pretty sure everyone else knew about it. He never felt something so strong for someone else. He kept on running, searching for a sign of her. This place was dangerous and even though Peter knew Gamora could take care of herself (better than he would), it didn't help that this place was full of creepy stuff and he wanted to get her out of this place and invite her on a dinner for two. That was if she didn't kill him first. He needed her to be fine. He somehow felt… complete with her.

He walked past a few injured guards. All of them unconscious. Or dead. One of them had a knife stuck in his ass. Peter smirked. He must be close to her. He took a turn to his left and there she was, fighting bad guys in all her glory and beauty. He sighed. She was so damn dangerously sexy. He was thrown back to reality when a guy raised a knife towards the back of Gamora's head. He gasped and growled. He pointed his gun towards the guy's skull and shoot him. The guard fell limp on the floor. There were no more guards to take down and Gamora looked at him. She ran at him and gave him a hug.

"Where were you?" She asked, still hugging him.

"You know… around." He hugged her back.

Gamora chuckled. "I should have known you would say that."

Peter smiled and kissed the top of her head. He rested his chin as he took in the warm embrace and closed his eyes. He heard the sound of a gun charging and he snapped his eyes open only to see The Boss, the guy they were here to arrest, pointing his gun at Gamora. Peter didn't thought. He just did. He grabbed Gamora's shoulders and moved her behind him, shielding her with his body. Gamora didn't had time to react and she was slightly confused by Peter's behavior when she heard a gunshot.

Peter gasped as he grabbed his side as blood started to drip out from the wound. His legs gave out on him and he kneeled on the floor in defeat. But not even his feet would hold him, so he laid his body on the floor. Panting, like if he had ran a full marathon. Gamora kneeled by his side, shouting his name. He only knew that because of the way her lips moved. He couldn't actually hear her. He could only make out some mumbling sounds and shouting. He turned his head a little bit to see that the rest of the guardians had arrived and were taking The Boss into custody. Of course, they knocked him out first and tied him up with some of Groot's help.

Peter looked back at Gamora and looked into her eyes. Gamora touched Peter's already sweaty face cheek. She said something between the lines 'You will be fine.' He felt eye lids heavy. It was hard to breathe. He felt the presence of his friends around him. They looked at him with worry. Sure, he had taken shots before, but he had never reacted like this. He felt a shiver through his spine. His chest hurt. His eyelids felt… too… heavy…

OOO

Peter kept drifting back and forth from consciousness. He was starting to develop a fever. Rocket cursed and growled under his breath as he drove the Milano at full speed to reach Xandar as fast as he could because of Peter's condition, which was getting worse with each minute.

Gamora carefully placed a cold cloth over Peter's forehead. Peter slowly opened his blood-shot eyes and looked at her.

"How are you feeling?"

Peter took a moment to response. "Like hell… everything hurts…" His bones were aching in agony. Every single orgasm wanted to explode. Everything was blurry to him and his throat was dry.

Gamora grabbed a dry cloth and replaced the bloody over his wound. It had stopped bleeding, but she wasn't going to risk getting it infected. "Don't worry, we are close to Xandar."

Peter looked at her. "Where's The Boss?"

Gamora smiled a little. "Drax and Groot are watching him."

Peter closed his eyes for a moment. After a while he said: "Poison."

"What?"

"The bullet… it think it was poisonous…" He took a breath. "I have taken bullets before… And I know how poison works…" He coughed.

Rocket, who was hearing the conversation, cursed again. "I need to upgrade this piece of junk's speed limit…"

OOO

"What's wrong with that son of a bitch!? We want to see him!" Rocket yelled at the doctor in the Nova Corps Medical Facility. "I demand answers!"

They had dropped off The Boss and retrieved their bounty while the doctor made them wait three full hours. They did it because they knew that they had to take care of Peter later. Not a drug dealer.

The doctor backed off a little bit, scared of the raccoon's temper tantrum. "The bullet he was hit with contained a rare yet dangerous poison, hard to find. It is dangerous for any life form."

"I could have taken it." Gamora mumbled.

"I said for ANY life from, Miss Gamora. Not even you could take this." The doctor looked at her. "I understand your feeling. But on the bright side, Mr. Quill's half alien DNA is kicking in, doing some fast healing, though the poison is not completely out of his body."

"Can we see our friend?" Drax asked.

"Yes, but don't try to wake him up. He needs his rest."

The guardians were directed to Peter's room. Just outside the door, the doctor stopped. "We gave him a strong antidote to reduce his fever and banish the poison." He opened the door for the guardians and once they were inside, closed the door and left.

Peter was lying in bed with his clothes replaced for white paper ones. He wore a breathing mask and his chest raised slowly, a sign of deep sleep. He was looking pale, like he had just seen a ghost. In fact, he looked like the ghost himself.

The guardians sat around the bed. Gamora sat at Peter's left and Groot and Drax at his right. Rocket sat at the end of the bed. Gamora grabbed Peter's hand and gave a light squeeze.

Rocket frowned. "Great. We are stuck with the weakest guy ever."

"I am Groot." Groot gave Rocket a disapproving glance.

"Let me be! That's how I express my feelings." Rocket said. He folded his ears. Sometimes he knew he was being too rude but he couldn't help it when that was how he reacted in situations like this and it was also pretty much how he reacted to everything else.

Gamora squeezed Peter's hand again, a small attempt to wake him up. But it was worthless. 'I should have taken that bullet. I should have…' She thought.

Groot looked like he was about to cry and Drax looked at his sleeping friend with a sad gaze. "He's very selfless."

Rocket looked at him with a confused face. "Him? Selfless? Come one, Drax. He worries on how his hair looks like every ten seconds or so. Or what about that time he risked our lives for his hair brush?"

"He did not knew we were there." Drax stated. "But today he proved he's willing to take a bullet for a friend any time. Even for this whore." Gamora glared at Drax but he ignored her. "That's a very selfless act."

Drax and Gamora weren't very fond of each other but they would tolerate each other. They were friends. Kind of. Gamora looked down at Peter. He looked so sick. Rocket seemed to notice Gamora's guilty face and rolled his eyes.

"Look, green girl. It's not you damn fault so snap out of it! This motherfucker is the biggest most sarcastic dick I know. And believe me when I say that the worst things in existence have the longest life span. Unfortunately." Rocket said. "He will be fine."

Gamora smiled at Rocket. His way of comforting someone was… well… somehow comforting in its own unique way.

Suddenly, there was a movement in the bed and Peter slowly opened his eyes. He looked around the room and smiled. "…so you guys would have me for a long time of you think I'm that bad…" He whispered.

Rocket smirked. "So you were listening to our little conversation, you son of a bitch. How nice."

Peter smirked back. "You talk too loud. I couldn't sleep." Then he frowned. "And don't insult my mother, you dick."

"Asshole."

"How old are you?" Peter asked weakly. "You look old with all those white hairs on your face."

"For your information, the ladies are after me everywhere I go."

"Oh, really? Last time I recall, that blue skinned girl kicked you in the nuts and told you, you were too small. If you get what I mean." Peter said in a low, weak voice through the breathing mask. But that did not took away the playfulness of his voice.

"Shut up!" Gamora said to the both of them. Then she smiled. "Yeah, Peter's going to be just fine."

Peter locked eyes with Gamora. She could see they were tired, but that bright light was still present in his eyes. He was there with her and not in some other place. He did not kissed his butt goodbye or kicked the bucket. He was also giving her… the look. That goofy look he gave her when he seemed to be in some sort of trance.

"Get a room." Rocket mumbled. "This sexual tension is bothering me to no end."

"I am Groot." Groot said as he threw some small white lilies in the air. Peter and Gamora blushed a little.

Drax looked at them and at the flowers. "When is the wedding?" He asked innocently.

Peter almost seemed to choke on his air mask and Gamora's skin turned into a sickly pale green.

OOO

Later that day after Peter was returned to the Milano, he laid on his bed thinking of the day's events. He had put on a pair of sleeping pants to be comfortable but did not put on a t-shirt because it was rather difficult to put on one when half of your body screams pain.

He risked his life for Gamora's. That was a fact. He was selfless enough to do so. He kept looking to the ceiling in his small bed room when something hit him.

He had never done that for anyone. Well, except that time with Ronan when he took the stone, but that was another thing.

He inhaled some air. He did it for her. He might never do it for someone else other than her.

The door to his room opened slightly and revealed a green girl. "Can I come in?"

"Any girl whose green can come in." Peter joked as Gamora approached him. She had a glass of water and two pills in her hand.

"Here, you need to drink this."

Peter slowly, and painfully, sat up, looking at the items in Gamora's hand. "What's that?"

"Antibiotics the doctor recommended you. It's to prevent any infection. The other pill is for the pain." She sat beside him. For a second, she looked at the bandages that covered Peter's abdomen. She looked away before the guilt feelings could come back.

Peter grabbed the pills and the glass of water. Once he swallowed the pills along with the water, he gave the glass back to Gamora who put it in the nightstand. Peter winced when he changed position. Gamora looked at him with worried eyes. "Are you ok?"

Peter smiled at her reassuringly. "I am now."

Gamora smiled. "How's your wound?"

"Better…" Peter winced again. "Ok, it's still the same." He looked at her. "And how are you?"

"I'm fine." Gamora looked at him with a questionable look. "Why did you do it? Why did you risked yourself for me?"

Peter shrugged, trying to look as normal as possible. "I don't know. It seemed the right thing to do." He looked at her. "The truth is…" He looked at her in the eye. No, he couldn't tell her the truth. At least not yet. "…You're my best friend, Gamora. I don't want to lose you."

Gamora smiled. She seemed to buy that one. "You're my best friend too, Peter." She looked at him. She noticed that Peter still seemed too tired. "You must go back to sleep." She stood up.

Peter smiled at her. "Ok. Make sure Rocket doesn't tear apart the Milano while I'm sleeping, ok?"

"Don't worry. Sleep well." Gamora walked towards the exit and closed the door.

Peter sighed once she was gone. He couldn't tell her he risked his life because he loved her! That might ruin their friendship! And after all, he had one hell of a history with ladies. He needed to clean his name first before he could tell anything to the green skinned girl.

He would do anything for her and no one else.

Well, except for Groot. And Drax. Possibly Rocket. But mostly just for her…

For all my Peter's Little Girl fans, this one shot has nothing to do with it. I'll be posting short stories that ill be aside from that story line. That doesn't mean I won't keep going! Enjoy!