"Yeah, it takes some gettin' used to," he says. Though she seemed to have some good ones, back home. The ones here were their own kind of protection. She'd be doing fine.

Now Yondu had been a father before. Sometimes he kinda acted like one here. But it was different having it acknowledged so easily like that. It was still somethin', having a name put to it.

He puts his arm around her and squeezes her to his side. "You did good," he promises. And then he works up the gumption for the words. They're not easy, because he feels like he might be setting her up for heartbreak. He doesn't want to do that. But she deserves to be more than somethin' people are scared of, somethin' meant to be handled with kid gloves.

"An' I love the hell out of ya, too..."

Maybe he should have watched his wording.