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Gamora was sitting in the living room sipping on her morning tea. Unlike the other Guardians, she wasn’t much of a coffee drinker. She wasn’t hungry for breakfast yet, and she knew Peter would get onto her about it. He always did, especially since shit got bad about a month and a half ago.
But she was getting better. Gamora started eating more, thanks to everyone on the team. She always took care of them, so why wouldn’t they take care of her?
And if anyone doubted that she was getting better, she would point to her tea. She actually put cream and sugar in it now. It tasted so much better with it.
Peter came into the room, with a plate of buttered rye toast in his hand. She heard him in the kitchen earlier, so she wasn’t that surprised.
“Hey babe,” he spoke while handing the plate to her.
“Hey,” Gamora replied.
“I made you some toast. I wasn’t sure if you had breakfast yet.”
“I didn’t have anything to eat yet, so thank you.”
Peter smiled as she started to eat her toast.
“Nova Prime called.”
Gamora looked up at him.
“Why?” she questioned.
“She told me she wanted to speak to you in person when you had the time,” he explained. “I’m not exactly sure why she only wants to talk to you, but I told her you’d call her back when you got the chance.”
Gamora sat there, clueless. Why would Nova Prime want to talk to her privately? Xandar was thriving, so what could the Nova Corps need help with? Maybe it was a mission, perhaps. But it still didn’t make sense to her.
“I’ll call her back when I finish eating,” she told Peter.
Peter nodded and went back to the kitchen to make his breakfast.
***
Once Gamora finished her breakfast, she went to her and Peter’s room to grab her holopad and she called Nova Prime.
On the first ring, the line picked up.
“Hello?” Nova Prime declared.
“Hi, Nova Prime,” Gamora replied. “Peter told me to call you, correct?”
“Oh, yes, Gamora. I was wondering if I could talk to you today at the Nova Corps Headquarters today?”
“I have some free time today, so sure. How about in two hours?”
“That works into my schedule, so yes.”
“I just have one question,” Gamora spoke. “Why would you like to meet with me?”
“I wanted to talk to you about your hospital stay a few weeks ago.”
Oh.
“I understand. I’ll meet you in two hours?”
“Yes, that sounds good. Goodbye!”
“Goodbye.”
Gamora hung up the call and sighed.
She really would like it if the hospital stay was left behind her. It wasn’t one of her best moments. But she supposed that it was important to talk about it if Nova Prime wanted to talk about it.
She went ahead and did her morning routine. Take a shower, brush her hair, dry it, brush her teeth, do her skincare, and get dressed. Today, she decided to wear her long-sleeved dress, since she wasn’t going into battle today. The dress was the one that the Nova Corps gave her when the Guardians saved Xandar. She loved that dress so much. It reminded her of a time when she used her abilities for good, finally.
Once she got her shoes on and grabbed her purse, she was ready to leave. Conveniently, they were already on their landing pad on Xandar, so she just had to walk to the Nova Corps headquarters.
“Are you ready?” Peter asked Gamora as she stepped out of their room.
“Yeah, she wanted to meet me in a little while,” she replied.
“Okay, thankfully it’s only a short walk to the headquarters.”
Gamora nodded. “I’ll be back in a few hours.”
“Alright, I’ll keep myself busy.”
She was almost out the door of the ship when Peter came up to her.
“One more thing,” he spoke, “If you’re hungry, make sure you get something to eat, okay?”
“Don’t worry babe, I will.”
“I know, just making sure. You mean a lot to me and I don’t want you getting hurt.”
Gamora smiled. “I know.”
She kissed him.
“I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
***
The walk to the Nova Corps headquarters was uneventful, but the weather was nice and sunny. It took Gamora about fifteen minutes to get there. She checked in at the front desk, and the secretary told her that Nova Prime would be with her in a few minutes.
As promised, Nova Prime appeared to greet Gamora within minutes of her checking in.
“Good morning, Gamora,” Nova Prime greeted.
“Hello, Nova Prime,” Gamora replied back.
“Why don’t we go ahead and head to my office?”
Gamora nodded and walked with Nova Prime to her office. On the way, Nova Prime decided to ask her a question.
“Have you been recovering okay?” she asked.
“I have,” Gamora replied. “Do you know why I was in the hospital?”
“A little bit. I know that you fainted and were unconscious for a while.”
Gamora’s cheeks heated up.
“We don’t have to talk about anything more if it makes you uncomfortable,” Nova Prime stated as they approached her office.
“No, it’s fine. We can continue.”
Nova Prime opened the door of her office and invited Gamora to sit down.
Both Gamora and Nova Prime sat down at the desk in the office.
“I was in the hospital for fainting,” Gamora explained. “It was because I wasn’t eating enough and my body couldn’t take it anymore.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Nova Prime responded. “You’ve gotten better, I’d assume?”
Gamora nodded. “The other Guardians have been a great help with everything, especially Peter. He makes sure I eat all my meals and snacks.”
Nova Prime smiled. “That’s good to hear. Can I ask you something?”
Gamora nodded again.
“Alright,” Nova Prime continued. “I wasn’t sure if your medical records were accurate, but do you have any chronic illnesses?”
“I actually do. I have PCOS, so if it says that your records must be correct.”
Nova Prime nodded. “It does actually. Are you currently getting treatment for it?
“I am, but it’s not really working out too well.”
“That’s alright,” Nova Prime responded. “The Nova Corps actually has our own endocrinologist.”
“Really?” Gamora replied in shock.
“Yes, Gamora. I was actually hoping your medical records were accurate because of that.”
“Do I have to pay anything for that?”
“No, actually. Because of you and the Guardians’ heroic actions, we will provide all of you free healthcare.”
“What if we need other specialists?”
“Those are all included.”
Gamora sat there for a moment in shock.
“Will the endocrinologist have any openings soon?”
***
Gamora came back to the ship satisfied. Not only was the Guardians’ healthcare free, but she was able to get an opening next week with the Nova Corps endocrinologist, Dr. Kuu.
Once she entered the ship, Peter greeted her.
“You’re back early,” he commented.
“Yeah,” Gamora replied. “It didn’t take as long as I expected.”
“How did it go?”
“Oh, Nova Prime wanted to know about how I was doing after the hospital stay.”
Gamora pulled a paper from her purse.
“She also told me that the Nova Corps has their own endocrinologist. She had an opening next week, so I went ahead and booked an appointment.”
“That’s great, Gamora!”
“Unfortunately, they don’t have records of my lab results, so we’ll have to go to the phlebotomist tomorrow morning.”
“Oh, so that’s what the paper is for?”
Gamora nodded. “I just have to remember that I can’t eat or drink anything besides water after dinner tonight. They’re testing my blood sugar and insulin and food messes it up.”
Peter thought for a moment. “Why don’t we go out for breakfast after you get your lab work done?”
“You want to make it a date?”
“Sure, why not? I think I know a place that has good strawberry pancakes.”
Gamora’s eyes widened. That was probably her favorite breakfast dish right now. Maybe even her favorite dish ever.
“I’m taking that as a yes?” Peter questioned.
Gamora nodded.
“Okay. For now, maybe I should go ahead and make lunch for my favorite girl in the world. It’s been a few hours since you ate.”
Gamora smiled as they headed to the ship’s kitchen.
***
The day cycle ended, and so did the next night cycle, and it was finally morning on Xandar. It meant that Peter and Gamora had to get up out of their bed and get ready to go to the Nova Corps lab.
They both kept their outfits relatively simple, with Gamora wearing a dainty purple top with a pair of her black leggings, and Peter wearing cargo pants and a flannel top. It wasn’t like they were going anywhere too special.
It didn’t take them long to get ready. After only thirty minutes, they were ready to leave the ship. They had talked it over with the Guardians last night and decided that Kraglin would be in charge for the hour or two that they would be gone. He promised that everything would run smoothly in that time span.
It was a ten-minute walk to the Nova Corps diagnostic laboratory. Once they got inside, they signed in at the receptionist’s desk and sat down in the adjacent waiting room. The receptionist had told them that it would be about a ten-minute wait.
Gamora heard Peter shift in his seat.
“Are you okay?” she asked him.
He sighed.
“I’m just worried about you,” he replied. “I don’t know why, because I know that everything is going to be alright.”
“It’s okay to worry. You have the right reasons to.”
Gamora and Peter waited a few more minutes until they were called. Once they got out of their seats, the assistant led them into a small room with a phlebotomy chair and a collection of tubes for blood.
Gamora noticed that the tubes were categorized by the color of their tops. She wondered how much blood she was getting drawn out of her today. Was she going to feel faint?
“The phlebotomist will be here shortly,” the assistant told her. "Go ahead and sit in the chair, please.”
Gamora did what she was told to do and the assistant left.
Peter looked around. Gamora noticed that there was no chair for him. She laughed a little.
A few minutes later, the phlebotomist came in.
“Good morning, what’s your name?” she called.
“I’m Gamora Zen Whoberi Ben Titan,” Gamora replied.
The phlebotomist looked at her notepad and nodded.
“We’re testing your blood glucose and fasting insulin levels today. Have you fasted for the past eight hours?”
Gamora nodded.
“Great!”
The phlebotomist, whose name was Cherry, explained the procedure and started drawing the blood. While the needle pinched a little into Gamora’s skin, it did not hurt for long. She closed her eyes and remained calm, because she was good.
She felt it when Cherry took out the needle. Gamora opened her eyes and saw where she put gauze on the entrance so that the bleeding would stop. Gamora veered her eyes to her left and saw the tubes of blood.
There were about four tubes of deep green liquid. One tube had a red top, one had a gold top, one had a gray top, and one had a light purple top. She could possibly guess what the colors were for, but she was not completely sure.
Cherry told them that the tests were done and that the results would be on the patient portal in a few days. Dr. Kuu would be able to explain the results to Gamora at her appointment soon.
Gamora nodded and she and Peter thanked the phlebotomist.
While they were leaving, she noticed she felt a little odd. It would resolve itself in a few minutes though. There was a mod for that.
Of course there was.
***
After leaving the laboratory, Gamora and Peter went to the restaurant that Peter suggested to go to. Thankfully, the restaurant was only a five-minute walk from the laboratory.
This was a good thing, because Gamora could physically feel how empty her stomach was. She was really hungry. It made sense, because it was later than when she usually ate breakfast. Of course her body was demanding her to eat.
However, it also did not make any sense at all. Before she had joined the Guardians, she could easily fast for hours on end. It was a good thing, because she did not get much food while living with Thanos. Even though it was not necessarily the healthiest decision, her body could handle it. It had to handle it. Why was it all different now?
She just wished that she was not so hungry all the time.
Her and Peter arrived at the restaurant.
“They serve traditional American foods here,” Peter told her as they walked in. “It’s the food that I grew up with.”
Gamora nodded. She was pretty sure that that meant pancakes.
The hostess greeted them and told them to follow her. They sat down at a nice table that was right against the restaurant’s main window.
Good for people watching, Gamora thought.
The hostess told them that their waiter would be at their table shortly. In the meantime, they could look at their menus.
Gamora opened her menu to decide what she wanted. Thankfully, it was not long. She knew what she wanted, but she felt conflicted.
She must have had a look on her face, because Peter got her attention.
“What?” Gamora questioned.
“You look conflicted,” Peter claimed.
She sighed.
“I’m not sure if I should get the strawberry pancakes.”
“Well, there are a lot of good options. I don’t blame you.”
“It’s not that.”
Peter looked surprised.
“Then what is it, ‘Mora?”
“I-I’m not sure if I should have something like that. It’s a lot of carbs.”
“...Oh.”
Gamora sat back in her chair.
“I feel like I shouldn’t be eating something like that. I don’t want to get worse.”
Peter sighed.
“Honey, it’s okay,” he replied. “If you really want it, you should get it. It’s not like you’re only getting the pancakes anyway.”
“I guess you’re right.”
At that moment, the waiter came by and introduced himself.
“What would y’all like to drink?” the waiter asked.
Both Gamora and Peter requested to have water. They were not in the mood for anything fancy.
“And what would you like to eat, ma’am?”
“Can I have the strawberry pancakes with scrambled eggs and bacon, please?”
Peter smiled at her.
“Sure thing. And what would you like to eat, sir?”
“I’ll have the country fried steak with hash browns, please.”
“Alright, your food will be out shortly!”
***
They went back to the ship after breakfast. Both Gamora and Peter had leftovers that they could eat later.
Gamora felt good. She was glad that Peter convinced her to get what she really wanted to eat. She hoped that Peter would bring her back to the restaurant again.
“Everything will be okay, you know that, right?” Peter asked her.
She thought about it for a second.
“Yeah, it will.”
Gamora was going to be okay. She hoped. She knew.
She would get the lab results in a few days. They were not going to be bad. Maybe a little off, but it would be okay. She could just live like how she was right now. No changes had to be made.
She was sure of it.