“Liar.” he said quietly, thinking that he probably wasn’t doing himself any favours to call the woman he didn’t want to leave him a liar, but he wasn’t gonna throw a life-long philosophy out the window simply because one person ‘said’ they were gonna stay. “M’not fragile.” he sniffed, probably sounding exactly that when he spoke, “M’a Magi. I c’n talk to the universe.” he said quietly. He could break the laws of physics entirely, do things that spat in the face of science, yet… “Universe is the only one who talks back.”
He didn’t even know that she’d heard him speak, and in any other situation would be running away with embarrassment right now, as it was he did the one thing he never usually did… spoke honestly, “Sure it is,” he whispered, words barely audible, “Titans hate me, People hate me, Z hates me… Parents hate me. If ‘arents can’t love’ya then you’re just wrong. I did something wrong.” he sniffed again, “Wish I knew what it was.”
Moving like this felt so weird, he’d never leaned on anyone before, never been that drunk and had to move, and never been that hurt before. “Sure’av.” he breathed out some semblance of a chuckle, “Done lots a things. M’mean, an selfish, an a-always bothering people with m’nonsense.” he even raised a battered arm to wag a finger at his imaginary self for that one, before dropping it with a small ‘Ow.’ sound.
“Zatanna. My cousin.” he muttered, “She’s perfect.” he didn’t even have the energy to pretend to be sarcastic as he said it, “She’s a hero n’everyone loves her.” he shook his head, hair falling over his eyes again, “No. She won’t come. Always says she will but never does.”
Biting back on every argument she wanted to make, Peggy merely walked them over to the side of a busier street and held her hand up, waiting for the tell-tale yellow car. “Zach, I love you. And we’re going to argue so much about this when you’re clear headed.” She muttered, successfully waving down a taxi. With a little less grace than she was hoping for, she and Zach were tucked into a car and moving towards the hospital. Peggy’s arm was wrapped around him and rubbing the back of his head gently, and her knee bounced in stress as they finally pulled up to the doors and her money was handed over to the cabbie.
The checking in process wasn’t much better when she was warned there would be a longer wait due to the “lack of severity” with the patient. Hearing those words, Carter grit her teeth, flashed her SHIELD badge and managed to just contain herself when she explained to the nurse how important this patient was.
Fast forward almost twelve hours, and Peggy was curled up in a chair beside Zach’s bed, looking over the latest mission report like she was completely at home in the hospital room. Truth be told, her skin was crawling as she sat beside her son. Ever since her hospice days, she got a little twitchy when it came to the sterile rooms.
She just clicked off one file and began to pull up another when Zach started to stir in his bed. Her eyes flickering up, she leaned over and brushed the bangs off of Zach’s face, Abra and Cadabra peering in from the window. “Easy now, Love." She cooed, watching his features for signs of pain.
