Angelica collapsed by Paine's grave. It has been exactly a week since the incident. Now it was his fun-eral. It was paine-ful, for Angelica and some other people at least.

Haha, get it?

John sighed. He didn't want to attend this in the first place. He discreetly sneaked back to his car hoping that no one would spot him, especially Angelica. He opened the driver's side door and was surprised to see Alex sitting there.

"Alexander?" The man was startled at his remark. Alex calmed down as he noticed it was merely John.

"Oh, hello," He mumbled. "I just forgot my...water!" He exclaimed and showed not his, but John's water bottle.

"You don't want to join them, huh?" John asked. Alexander slowly nodded.

"I'm assuming you don't want to either."

"Correct," He said. "We should be visiting Peggy and not care about some stupid things like this."

"Then, let's go visit her!" Alex smiled.

"Alright, please excuse me, you're not the driver," John chuckled. Alexander rolled his eyes and hopped to the other side, letting John to sit at his previous seat.

"Lez gooo!"

-time skip-

"Room?" The nurse behind the Front Desk asked, not looking up.

"Eliza, it's us," John chuckled. The nurse, now as you know was Eliza, perked up.

"Hey, guys!" She chirped. "What are you doing here?"

"The fun-eral was so booooriiingggg!" Alex whined. "We did absolutely nothing!"

"I thought so," Eliza giggled. Then she sighed. "How's Angelica doing?"

"Pouring her eyes out," John frowned.

"Oh," She mumbled. "Anyway, Peggy's been moved to a different room. Room 422, Fourth Floor, North Corridor."

"Thanks, Liza," Alex said before being dragged away by John who was longing to see his best friend.

Once they reached the room, they heard someone, presumably a doctor, speaking to Peggy. John held Alex back not wanting to interrupt their conversation.

The door opened and there stood James Hamilton Jr.

"James! How nice to see you!" Alexander smiled and hugged his older brother. His brother laughed and patted his back before pushing away.

"Hey there, Alexander. John," He waved. "Visiting Peggy, I assume?"

"Yep!" John chirped. "How's she doing?" He asked worriedly.

"Oh, she's.." He looked down at the clipboard he was holding. "She's getting pretty well."

"That's great, James!" Alexander exclaimed.

John nodded impatiently. "Mhm. Please excuse us, we'd like to see her now."

"Of course," James said and opened the door for them. John bolted inside immediately.

The brothers shared anxious glances before proceeding to their separate ways.

"John!" Peggy exclaimed as she caught sight of him. "Hello! What are you doing here?"

"Well, can't I see my best friend?" John asked. "It's been too long."

"It's been a week."

"Still."

She shrugged. "Eh."

"So, how did it go?" He questioned. Peggy raised an eyebrow. "The surgery."

"oH, the bullet removal!" Peggy said. "It went alright."

"Oh okay.." John bit his lip and gave Alex a nervous look. Alexander tried to gave him a reassuring smile. He nearly failed, but he came out successful anyway.

"Peggy, are you okay?" Alex asked out of the blue. John frowned and looked at the yellow sister, who seemed like to be hyperventilating. Alex insticntly grabbed John's hand and ran outside to look for a doctor.

"James!" He cried. John stood still, his eyes fixed on the floor. He didn't know what to do.

"John? Snap out of it!" He heard Alex say. But he was already too deep in thought.

The last thoughts he had in mine was that Peggy had to be ok,
and that the decade of 2020 is officially the worst before passing out.

~~×~~

"John! Wake up!"

John gasped as he woke up from unconsciousness. He saw Alex frantically slapping his face and felt water dripping from his face.

Alex stopped slapping him and sighed. "Ah, glad you're awake. I had to slap you like"

"What happened? Is Peggy alright? Is she gonna be ok-?" He started.

"Shush," John clammed up and took notice they were back at their apartment. "calm down, Jack."

"Jack?" John cocked his head.

"I dunno, I got that from somewhere in my head.." He mumbled smiling. "But anyway, Peggy's alright now. She just needs to have rest and no visitors for a few more days. And she's been moved to the intensive care unit."

"Oh.." He said softly. "I can't tell if that's good or bad."

"Yeah, I can't tell either," Alex admitted.

"May I share my thoughts?" He whispered.

Alex nodded. "Of course, hun."

"Did you find...Peggy acting strange?"

He frowned and took interest at the flying birds outside the window. "Yeah, yeah. She wasn't in her bubbly state."

"She's usually pretty hyper, specifically high on candy." He laughed remembering their first Halloween with Alexander. "I'm surprised she didn't joke about anything."

"I mean, she did just escaped death..." He said now facing John. "Are you alright?"

John perked up and suddenly looked down trying to keep the tears from falling. "Of course I a-am."

"John-"

"I'm fine."

"John, please-"

"I promise, I'm fine."

"You may be fine, but you're not good."

John's eyes widened.
That was the exact same thing he said to Alex before he fell.

"I said, I'm fine," He said a little too harshly. "I- I'm sorry," He mumbled. "It's just-" He groaned letting a few tears fall. "Nevermind. I just don't want to lose Peggy, like I lost everyone else.."

Alex gave him a weak smile and gently wiped away his tears, despite still by being smaller. "It's alright, John. However, you do know we're in this together, right?" He only received a soft hum of a familiar song.

Through the lows and the highs I will stay by your side.
There's no need for goodbyes, now I'm seeing the light.
When the sky turns to gray and there's nothing to say,
At the end of the day,

I choose you~

"John?"

"Yeah?"

"I hate to say it at this um, sort of sad moment but uh," He chuckled. "I..."

"Oh spit it out, will ya?" John joked.

"I remember."

"HOLY SHI-"