STARGIRL

forty.

Peter and Eleanor walked down the street to the house that they suspected was Peter's grandfather's. Eleanor walked along happily, taking a look around at everything. This was her first time on Earth and she wanted to make sure she missed nothing.

They walked up the grass to a one-floor, quite large, brown house and Peter knocked on the door. Eleanor swung gently on her feet as they waited. A dark-skinned woman with silvery-grey hair opened the door. She was quite a bit shorter than the father and daughter so she looked up at them.

Peter swallowed, "I think we might be at the wrong, uh... We're looking for Jason Quill."

"Uh, yes," the woman smiled, and she nodded, opening the door wider for the two to come inside, "Come in."

There were loads of pictures on the wall as Eleanor and Peter followed the woman through the house. Eleanor smiled when she spotted one of her dad when younger being hugged by his mom. "Hey, Dad, it's you." she said, pointing to a picture of a toddler.

"Actually, I think that's my uncle," he replied, "We looked alike when we were both young."

The woman stood by the door, watching an older-looking man sitting at the garden table. Eleanor stopped beside her, and Peter placed a hand on her shoulder. The older man looked up from his newspaper, and he stared at Peter in disbelief.

"Pete?" the man questioned, and Eleanor moved out of the way to let her father through.

The older man removed his glasses and stumbled up. His whole body was shaking as he walked over, wrapping his arms around Peter's shoulders, "Pete." he said happily, bringing him into a hug. The older man started to cry.

"Hi, grandpa," Peter replied, and he also began to cry. When the two broke from their hug, Peter started to talk again, "I have someone for you to meet," he looked over to Eleanor and the older man followed his gaze. Eleanor smiled and waved, "That's my daughter, Eleanor. Your great-granddaughter."

The man started to shuffle over to the door so Eleanor walked forwards and wrapped her arms around her new-found family member, "Hi." she said.

The older man started to cry again, "Hi," he replied, "How old are you, eh?"

"Nineteen," Eleanor smiled, "What do I call you?"

"You can call me grandpa too," Jason Quill smiled, turning back to Peter, "Oh, this is a wonderful day."

A few hours later, when the two had settled in, there was another knock at the door. Jason's wife, Sarah, walked over and opened it. After a couple of minutes, she yelled out for Eleanor and she and Peter walked to the door.

A blonde woman stood at the door, with a taller brown haired man next to her. They had two children standing in front of them - both blonde - though their faces looked more like the man.

"Hi." the woman smiled at Eleanor.

"Who are you?" Eleanor asked, looking at her dad who looked extremely surprised.

"I'm your mom."

Eleanor's jaw dropped open, "I, uh, umm... what?"

"Can we come in?" the man asked Sarah and she nodded, smiling at them.

The new family walked in and the man told the children to take their shoes off so they wouldn't ruin the lovely home. After they did so, the children ran straight for the sofa, diving onto it whilst the boy grabbed the remote.

The woman laughed, "You've got to ignore Ezra and Lisa. Their favourite show is on right now but I told them we had to come here," she smiled at Eleanor, "Eleanor, isn't it?"

"You already forgot?" replied Eleanor, and she narrowed her eyes at the woman, "I don't know anything about you and now you're coming here saying you're my mother after eighteen years!"

"Eleanor, take them into the living room, dear," Sarah said, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder, "I'll make everybody drinks."

Eleanor sighed, leading the group towards the living room where the two smaller kids were, already watching their programme. Eleanor and Peter sat down on one sofa, and the woman and the man joined their kids on the other.

The woman sighed, "So, this might come as a bit of a shock to you-"

"A shock?" Eleanor tried not to yell for the children's sake, and her body started to quiver, "It's more than a damn shock. You didn't want me, and now you're back. I want to know everything."

The woman sighed, "I guess you do deserve everything. Well, first thing's first, my name's Serena. This is my husband, David. He's your stepfather, and these are our kids, your half siblings. Ezra, he's nine, and Lisa, she's six."

Eleanor tried to not hate her siblings but she found it hard as they had the mother that she always wanted. She grunted a hello at them, but they didn't seem to care as they were fixated on their show. Sarah brought the drinks through and Eleanor gripped her mug tightly.

"I had you when me and your dad were nineteen," explained Serena, "I just... wasn't ready for the responsibility to be a mom at that time. I looked after you for the first year of your life. You were such a good baby, so small and quiet but raising you told me that I just wasn't a mother yet, so I gave you to your dad. He was more than happy to look after you though I was a bit unsure with Yondu and the Ravagers around."

Eleanor stiffened, "Yondu was a great grandad."

"I don't doubt that now," Serena smiled, "But now, after having my own two, I'm ready to be your mom. If you'd let me."

Eleanor looked over at Peter, who squeezed her hand, "It's your choice." he told her.

Eleanor took a deep breath, "Sure you can be in my life, but it'll be a while until I call you mom. I had some form of a mom in my life but she's gone, and then a different her came around and I wasn't ready for that her, but she didn't want me which was okay," she stopped herself as she realised that she was rambling, "You can see me."

"Thank you."

Eleanor was surprised that she sounded sincere. Like she was actually going to try.