Patchwork

After an unnecessarily long trip to the bathroom, mainly because Yon-Rogg kept complaining the entire time, 'Why didn't you go before we got here?' or 'We are going to be late because of this.' and just to spite him.

Vers finally made it to the barracks where her future squad awaited her. She stood before the heavy metal door, her hand on the handle. She didn't know if she was nervous, excited, or both. Yon-Rogg leaned on the wall next to the door and cleared his throat, startling her out of her train of thought.

"Are you going to stand there all day or are you actually going to open it?"

"I'm just deciding on my type of entrance, you only get one first impression."

"Just try not to be too much of yourself, you don't want to scare them off just yet."

"So no photon blasts?" Vers said with a small grin at the thought.

"No photon blasts." Yon-Rogg stated sternly.

"You're no fun." Vers said with a pout which Yon-Rogg mockingly mimicked.

"Fine, fine, have it your way, no photon blasts." Vers grumbled before turning back towards the door.

"All right, here we go." Vers said softly before pulling the door open and stepping into the well lit room.

It was not what she was expecting to say the least. The noise was the first thing to hit her. The sheer volume hurt her ears and she wondered why she wasn't able to hear it outside. The noise was a mix of people yelling and loud music that had a good rhythm but she couldn't make out any words to it over the amount of yelling. It wasn't angry yelling, more of an excited party yelling.

It was tight room with bunk beds lining the walls and a round table in the center of the room. There were four beings, sitting around the table with a holographic projection of what looked like two people fighting. Upon closer inspection Vers saw that one of the fighters had four arms and the other seemed to be a horse?

The projection was quickly shut off once they noticed Vers and Yon-Rogg had entered the room. They all stood up quickly their backs straight and their right arm across their chest. Vers had quickly learned that this action was Starforce's salute. Yon-Rogg repeated the salute at them and their arms dropped to their sides but they remained stiff.

Vers was able to take in her squad for the first time. It was made up two Kree, a tall blue skinned male and a slightly shorter pink skinned female. When Vers had first heard the term pink skin she almost punched the guy. Yon-rogg had to pull her aside and explain to her about how Kree skin colors can widely vary.

Vers's eyes caught on her other two squad mates. One looked almost Kree but had two intenna protruding from her forehead. Vers had to do a double take at her last squad mate who looked to be made of actual rocks.

"Primus." Yon-Rogg called out and the tall well built blue skinned Kree stepped forward.

"Yes, Commander?" Primus's voice was deep and confident.

"This is Vers," Yon-Rogg said as he motioned toward Vers, "you're new recruit." Primus's eyes narrowed slightly as he looked her up and down.

"Show her the ropes and try to keep her in line." Yon-Rogg gave her a small smirk before he said "She can be quite the handful." Vers glared back at him.

"Right then, best of luck to you all." Yon-Rogg said to them all before turning to leave. He stopped next to Vers before quietly saying "Remember your powers are to remain secret." Vers gave him a short nod and Yon-Rogg continued out.

Once Yon-Rogg left Vers turned back to the group of people. Vers suddenly felt self conscious as she saw the judgemental and inquisitive looks she was getting from all of them.

"Uh, hi, I'm Vers." She said with a small wave. "Which he already mentioned." She said quietly as she rocked back onto her heels.

"Grok" The man made of rocks said in a gravely voice.

"I am Galen-Kor" The female Kree to her left said drawing Vers's attention away from the talking pile of rocks.

"Kar-En." The girl with the intenna said with a nod.

"So, squad, what are we watching?" Vers said as she gestured towards were the holographic fight was being displayed.

"The latest fight from Sakaar. Someone was stupid enough to fight the current champion, Beta Ray Bill." Grok said as he turned the projection back on.

---

Carol's first impression of the famed Maria 'Photon' Rambeau was one of awe. She had heard about her at the academy, Maria was two years ahead of her but was already on the fast track to becoming a Captain. She had heard stories of how she broke the obstacle course record by almost a full minute and how she pranked the boys in her unit by dying all their underwear hot pink and got away with it.

Carol's mother had always told her to never meet your heroes, that they would never live up to your expectations, but Maria was the exception.

Carol has spend two years at an airforce base in Florida when she was assigned to Pegasus and was close to making Captain herself. She had been there just over two weeks when her new friend Steve, told her about how they all get together at a bar not too far from base called Panchos after a long day of flying.

She liked Steve, he wasn't like the other male pilots that she had flown with. He didn't make those disgusting cockpit jokes or talk down to her, which was a fantastic change of pace, but he was incredibly dull in every other fashion.

That was how she wound up sitting at the bar at Ponchos drinking a beer and fending off the over eager and overly cocky male pilots. There were so many different things happening at once, there was a loud darts game happening, someone was getting hustled at pool, someone who should not be singing karaoke was, and over all the noise one stood out to her. The sound that she had heard so many times it was as familiar as her own heart beat, the sounds of a pinball machine playing in the background.

Carol look across the sea of people and bomber jackets and saw the one person she had been wanting to meet since she started working at Pegasus, Maria Rambeau. She was watching, her face full of concern and worry as she watched the man playing pinball. Carol could see his score and it was approaching the current high score. She finished her beer before making her way through the crowd toward the arcade game. Just as she reached them the man let out a loud cheer of victory.

"Yes! I new high score. A man's back on top. All right who's next? Who dares to take on the champion?" Carol grimaced at the overly cocky attitude and noticed the same expression on Maria's face.

"I'll take you." Carol said as she approached the console.

"You think you can beat the champion?" He said as he looked her up and down with a sneer.

"No," she said with a shrug "I know I can." Carol saw Maria try and hide the smirk that appeared on her face at Carol's words.

"The deal is the looser buys the bar a round."

"And how many round did you have to buy before you beat her?" Carol questioned with a gesture towards Maria.

"Enough that he had to eat MRE's for a month." Maria was no longer trying to hide the smirk on her face as she spoke. "Avenge me hot shot and I'll buy you an extra round on top of his and mine." Maria say with a pat on her shoulder as she passed Carol on her way to the bar.

"I'll hold you to that." Carol called over her shoulder at the taller woman.

Carol wiped the floor with the 'champion', crushing his high score by several thousand points. Carol left him to sulk at the console as she went to collect her winnings from the former champion.

"There she is!" Maria call out as she approached the bar. "The Avengers herself," Maria paused "I don't actually know your name."

"Danvers, Carol Danvers." She said as she stuck a hand out which Maria shoved a beer into.

"Well Danvers, Carol Danvers, I'm Maria Rambeau call sign 'Photon'."

"I know who you are, you were a legend at the academy."

"You're a pilot too? I should have guessed, you've got that hot shot Top Gun vibe."Maria said as she looked up and down Carol, who might have flexed.

"Higher, further, faster baby." Maria laughed and Carol hid her smile behind the beer bottle as she took a sip.

"So, Danvers, Carol Danvers, I showed you mine now you show me yours." Carol inhaled the last of her sip of beer at Maria's words and started furiously coughing at the liquid in her lungs. Maria just laughed and grinned at her reaction.

"Uh, what?" Carols voice was rough from coughing.

"Your call sign. what is it?"

Carol blushed and avoided looking Maria in the eye as she mumbled something.

"What was that? I didn't quite catch that." Maria said not backing down and Carol sighed still not looking at Maria.

"I don't have one" Maria just cocked her head at her with confused expression on her face.

"You kidding right?"

"Yeah, well my squad mates never bothered to give me one. They either ignored me or vaguely gestured towards me and said her. I'm not even sure they knew my name. It's not like it's written on my jacket or anything."

"Well for one they probably didn't have enough brain cells to be able to read, and secondly you need a call sign. Something badass." Maria paused to think.

"Avenger." Maria said with a snap of her fingers.

"What?" Carol was stunned by the woman sitting next to her.

"Yeah, you just avenged my pinball title, which I will be reclaiming later by the way." Maria said smugly.

Carol just sat there stunned taking in the woman before her. In the twenty minutes she had know her, she had already changed her life.

"Well Avenger, I still owe you another drink for avenging my title from that dickwad, so drink up."

---

Carol was more nervous than she had been in years as she stood outside of the small Lousiana home. She had started to regain some of her lost memories thanks to Talos and the Skrulls, but she wasn't sure that it was enough. There were so many things still missing from her memories. She could just fly away and spend two weeks somewhere, anywhere else.

Her decision was taken from her and she didn't care as she heard Monica yell "Auntie Carol!" and run out of the small house at full force.

The smile that broke out on her face was so wide it hurt but she could care less. She crouched down and spread her arms just before Monica reached her. If she wasn't worried about actually crushing Monica she would have hugged her with all her considerable strength.

"You came back." Monica said softly into her old jacket.

"Of course I did, I couldn't stay away for too long. A Captain needs a Lieutenant." She could feel Monica's grip tighten on her as she spoke.

"Sorry, get your own." Carol looked up from where her head was buried Monica's neck at the sound of Maria's voice to see her leaning against the side of the doorframe, watching them.

"If I remember right," Maria stood up straight at her words "she was my Lieutenant Trouble first. You were too busy talking to your mother to join us, so technically I've got dibs."

Carol could see Maria brain working overtime, trying to figure out if Carol had started to remember and how much she remember.

"Come on Auntie Carol we were just about to start dinner." Monica said as she started to drag Carol inside. As they passed Maria on their way in, Carol could still see the conflicted look in her eyes but they were mixed with something else.

The inside of the Lousiana home was the same as when she had left. The dining room table was half coved in Monica's school work and the other half was set for two. Monica left go of her hand to add another place at the table for her. Maria hovered by the stairs closely watching her.

"So, how long have I been gone?" Carol asked as she gently started to look through Monica's drawing that were mixed in with her school work.

"You don't know?"

"It's kind of difficult to tell time in space without a day night cycle." It wasn't like Carol couldn't have found out how long she had been away. The ship's computer could have easily calculated it, but she didn't want to know. She couldn't handle the thoughts that came with knowing. She had a job to do, and she wouldn't even be here if Soren hadn't practically shoved her out.

"It sounds like you need a watch." Carol chuckled at the simple solution. "But you've been gone just under five months." Carol could hear the tightness and the stress in Maria's voice.

"I'm sorry, I should have come back sooner." Carol whispered.

"You're damn right. That little girl has been bugging me nonstop over when you would be back." Maria paused, "But you had a job to do, so I can't fault you for that." She finished softly.

"You never could stay mad at me for too long." Maria's eyes flickered to Carol's, the questioning look returned. Maria started to open her mouth to say something but was interrupted by Monica returning with a plate, cup and some silverware and babbling on about something that had happened at school recently.

"Do you have something I can change into for dinner? I've been pretty much stuck in this suit for the last few days and luggage doesn't really work at light speed."

"Yeah, I have a box of some of your old clothes in the attic." Maria stated before heading up the nearby flight of stairs.

"Auntie Carol come look at this picture of Goose I drew for art class!" Monica said as she picked up a drawing from the pile of papers on the dinning room table.

She sat with Monica while they went through her drawings and she told Monica of some of the different planets she had visited.

"There was this planet I visited where the atmosphere was fifteen percent helium. You should have heard Yon-Rogg try to be intimating with high pitch voice." Carol laughed at the memory but her laughter died off quickly as she remembered all that had happened with Yon-Rogg.

Carol was grateful that Maria chose to head down the stairs before Monica could ask her any questions about Yon-Rogg.

"It's not much, your mother took most of your things when you, uh, disappeared. These are the things that you, uh, forgot at my place." Maria kept glancing between Monica and her as she spoke.

She handed Carol the cardboard box that had her old clothes in it. Carol picked up a shirt out of the box and held it up in front of her. It was her Empire Strikes Back t-shirt that she had bought with Maria.

"Go on shorty get changed and then join us for dinner."

"Judge me by my size, do you?" Carol quoted at Maria and Maria paused mid step at her words and gave her a pained and pleading look. Carol glanced at Monica who was now going through the box of clothes and mouthed 'Later' at Maria. Maria nodded at her and took a deep breath before continuing into the kitchen.

Carol quickly changed into her old clothes, only briefly glancing in the mirror at the scars she had gotten over the years. Her finger briefly brush the scar on her stomach and she winced at the fresh memory. Talos was right regaining her memories was not a gentle process. The memories we still fresh in her brain and she had been slowly remembering more and more over time.

She took one last look at herself in the mirror before rejoining her family. Carol smiled at the thought, she was with her family again.

Carol wasn't sure she ever stopped smiling during dinner, listening to Monica talk about school and her friends and Maria throw in a comment every once in a while. She was currently helping Maria clean up while Monica sat at the dinning room table working on her home work.

Carol was bringing in the last of the dishes when she saw Maria leaning on the counter watching her. As she set the plates down Maria said in a soft voice "You remember." It was as much a question as it was a statement.

"Yes," she said matching Maria volume "but I don't remember everything."

"What do you remember?" Maria said in a tight voice as she hopped up onto the counter next to Carol.

"Not enough, not nearly enough." Carol stared at the dirty dishes in front of her instead of at Maria.

"Tell me." The pleading sound in Maria's voice broke Carol from the inside out. Carol caved at looked at Maria, she could see the hope in her eyes as well as the fear in them.

"It's like what ever they did to my brain shattered my memories, and now I'm stuck with the fragments and a patchwork of memories that I can barely make sense of. It's like building a puzzle without know what the picture is supposed to be and with half the pieces."

"Talos has a machine that can access memories. That's how I came to Earth in the first place. He used it to try and find Dr. Lawson and her light speed engine. I asked him to use it again to try and get it all back. It started with my most important memories. " Carol heard Maria release a shakey breath at her words. "It's a slow process, but it's started."

"What do you remember?" Carol could see the tear start to escape down Maria's cheeks as she spoke. Carol reached up and cupped the taller womans cheek and Maria gripped her forearm as Carol started to pull away, keeping her in place.

"I remember getting the scar on my finger from when you told me you were pregnant. I remember the road trip we went on. I remember you comforting me after finding our my father had died, who I also regrettably remember." Maria let out a strained laugh and tightened her grip on Carol's forearm. Carol gave a small smile at the sight.

"I remember meeting you at Pancho's and you giving me my call sign and you trying to regain your pinball title, and failing at that."

"You were always way too good at that game." Carol chucked at her words.

"I remember that disgusting mens bathroom, and being way to drunk for our first kiss. But it's not enough, I want to remember more. I want to remember the little thinks, like our first fight, Monica's first day of school," Carol paused for a moment, looking a Maria with a smirk she knew all too well, "you being jealous of Dr. Lawson." Maria playfully hit her shoulder.

"Come here you idiot." Maria said with a roll of her eyes as she grabbed the collar of Carol's shirt with her free hand, pulling her into a tender kiss.

'Home, this is what home feels like.' Carol thought as she hastily returned it.

-

"How long?" Maria said softly after breaking their kiss for oxygen. She rested their foreheads together, her hand still gripping Carol's shirt collar and arm. Not wanting to open her eyes or let go in case if she did Carol would be gone and she would wake from the dream.

She knew Carol couldn't stay on Earth for to long. The call of space travel and the need to help people was too strong in her. It's what caused Maria to lose her in the first place and it terrified her, but she knew there was no stopping her.

"Two weeks minimum." Carol's voice was tight, she didn't want to think about leaving. Maria felt a small smirk appear on Carol's lips before she continued.

"Soren had to fight to get me even that long."

Maria's brow furrowed at her words. She leaned back just enough to look her in the eyes.

"Talos wanted you to stay that much?"

"Uh, er, uh, no." Carol said avoiding Maria's piercing stare.

"She, uh, fought me. To get me to stay that long." Carol didn't need to be looking at Maria to see the shocked and slightly angry face she was giving her.

"I," Carol exhaled slowly before continuing, "I was scared that you didn't want me to come back. I didn't know if you would want me in your lifes if I wasn't the same Carol that you remember."

"Carol, honey." Maria said releasing Carol's arm and bringing her hand up to her cheek, turning her to looked her in the eye.

"I will always want you in my life and our daughters life. No matter how much you've changed you are still, and will always be, my Carol, fire fists and all."

"Wow, I forgot how much of a sap you are." Carol's voice was broken and tight as she feigned the sarcasm in her words and trying, and failing, to hold back tears.

"Oh yeah, nothing has changed." Carol froze at the sound of Monica's voice from the dining room.

"Could you at least try to keep the love confessions a little quieter next time? Calculus is already hard enough as is."

'Calculus?' Carol mouthed to Maria who was still blushing at being caught by their daughter and trying to hold back laughter.

"Oh yeah, Monica is kinda a super genius by the way." Maria explained softly after she got her quiet laughter under control.

"She gets it all from her mom." Carol whispered back.

"Moms, you're not getting out of this so easily." Maria corrected.

"Wouldn't dream of it." Carol beamed at her before leaning back in for another kiss.