"Hey~ Don!" Diego cheered as he smiled wide, sounding genuinely pleased to see Diego. Now under the influence of anaesthesia, the previous despair from the night before had disappeared, instead replaced by something more jubilant. The boy jumped heartily on to the bed, now dressed in the clothes that Diego had bought and the man in question handed over the signed papers to Eudora, who promised to hand the discharge papers over the receptionist and the school permission slip/roll call over to the teacher currently under fire from the parents.

"Teddy, we're leaving" Said Diego, his voice coming out far harsher than he meant as he collected both bags. "Let's go"

"C'me on, Don!" Theodore pouted cutely, holding out his hands to him in invitation. "Come play with me~!"

And for a brief moment, Diego was tempted to do just that. He didn't even care if Eudora was watching them from the doorway, he just wanted to give in to the childish notion to muck about and joke about with the kid that was high on anaesthesia. But just as quickly as it came, it was gone. He was brought back to the real world by a muffled chortle from the doorway. "C'me on" Diego muttered as he hoisted his nephew off of the bed.

"Awwww!" Theodore whined pretty dramatically, but he didn't struggle in his uncle's hold as he manoeuvred the pair around the wayward LANE Keepers and out of the back door (with some help from Eudora).

Once back out on the street, unencumbered by medical personnel or LANE Keepers, walking turned out to be much more of a chore than Diego ever thought that it would be. Theodore stumbled more than once as they trudged down the street, forcing him to keep a hold of his arm. But Diego didn't slow down because his eyes had locked onto the trunk of his car which had been parked down the street, like it was a life preserver. He couldn't wait to get out of view of the hospital and the burning gaze of the faceless Keepers that were held within.

"…Iz 'ard t'walk…" Theodore mumbled as he tripped over his own feet for the umpteenth time. Diego rolled his eyes in exasperation as the two finally reached his car where he had parked it on the side street.

"That'll be the painkillers" Diego replied as he let go of Theodore for a moment to dig through his pockets, in search of his keys.

"Hehe~! Oh yeah~!" Theodore giggled, sounding mighty proud of himself even as he cradled his arm to his chest and leant up against the car.

"Would you just get in the goddamn car?!" Diego snapped, unable to help himself. Today day had been a hard one. They had been unable to get a hold of Vanya, there had been no word from Five and there was still the whole thing with the masked gunmen to sort out. Not to mention all of the worry that had been swimming around inside hime ever since he had gotten that call from Eudora about said nephew and the Meritech Industries fire (because she was right, he had been listening to the police radios again).

They were far enough from the main street that any sounds from it were muffled and for a moment the side street was filled with an uncomfortable silence following his words. Rubbing a hand down his face, Diego tried to muffle the guilt for yelling at his nephew that threatened to overwhelm him before the turned back to the boy who stood on the other side of the car. His stomach sank at the sight that greeted him. That pleased expression that had been so apparent only moments ago had slipped away and instead it had been replaced with wide teary eyes and a sad little frown.

"…Why're you made at me?" Theodore whimpered, "I—I didn't—I don't like it"

"I'm sorry, I…" Diego felt the guilt jump up his throat and lodged itself there. He knew he wasn't being fair, that he was just upset about a whole lot of others things, that he was just worried about his nephew and that he was just taking all of it out on the wrong person. He knew that, but it didn't help. "…I'm not mad at you, Teddy, okay? I'm just—"

"—Whaz wong?" Theodore asked, his words slurring together.

"…Just get in the car" He replied, much softer and gentler than before. "Please"

"Okay" Theodore nodded easily as he slid inside, fumbling for only a moment with the door handle now that he had to switch the dominance of his hands. Diego breathed a sigh of relief when his nephew eventually got into the vehicle in question. He, himself, stayed outside for a minute more, giving himself a second to calm down as he ran his hand down his face once again, before he ducked inside.

It was quiet when Diego started the car and pulled back out onto the main road, and it stayed that way long enough for him to wonder if Theodore had already fallen asleep. But when he glanced over he found his nephew lounging back in the passenger seat (which he'd flattened back as far as it could go) and was staring up at the ceiling with wide, glassy eyes as his fingers (the ones not restricted by the cast) traced patterns in the air. It was only a moment of silence, that Theodore seemed to notice that something was off; although Diego had to wonder how he could understand anything through all of those drugs.

"Wait, wait, wait! Where's Vera?" Theodore asked, frowning a little as he rolled his head back to see if he could spot his mother in the backseat, as if he had managed to miss her on the way in. Diego swallowed thickly, taking a moment before he replied. Just hearing her name made his mouth dry up.

"…Why don't you get some sleep?" Diego tried to deflect. He hoped that the effect of the anaesthesia would be enough to blind the boy, making him unable to ask anymore questions. But it was not to be.

"Don? Where's Vera?" The boy pursued as he rolled over, locking his eyes on his uncle. Diego didn't know that a drugged up twelve year old could be so intense. Sparing a sideways glance towards his nephew as they paused at the intersection, he found Theodore frowning at him like he was trying to divine an answer from his furrowed expressions; almost to the point that he had gone cross-eyed.

"…She's…" He cleared his throat. How was he supposed to explain to his nephew that his mother had gone missing and no one knew where she had gone or what had happened? Especially since he'd only just come out of the hospital thanks to his own traumatic experience. Diego had no clue. "She'll be here soon…She just went out for a bit"

"Okay~" Theodore nodded happily. Diego hoped that lying straight to his face wouldn't backfire in his face, although knowing their luck, it probably would send him to Hell in a hand basket. "Where we goin'?"

"To my place" Diego replied as they turned the corner. Normally he would've taken Theodore back to the academy for Mom to take care of him, but after the eventful evening the night before he knew it was no longer safe. His place was the only other one that he could think of.

"Yay~! Will Munchie be there?" Theodore brightened. Munchkin—or 'Munchie' as he was more fondly called—was Al's (his roommate/landlord/part-time employer) little French dog who was far too fat to suit his name.

"Probably" He shrugged. More often than not the frenchie could be found either up in the apartment or down below in the boxing gym.

"Ah! I love Munchie so much~! He's like my favourite dog! He's so cute and he's so soft! And he's got huge ears! I dunno why people don't like dogs. That's just so weird because dogs are the best thing on this whole planet!" Theodore gushed as he immediately went off on a tangent about dogs. Which was funny, because the boy was definitely a cat person. "I think they're my favourite animal ever—!"

"—Not cats?" Diego couldn't help but smirk.

"But that's—but that's different, 'cause dogs are just—just animals and cats are—cats are like—like…Gods!"

"Gods, huh?"

"Uh huh, we were learning about 'em in history and—and how the Egyptians, like, prayed to 'em and stuff"

"Really?"

"Uh huh! D'you the other day, when we were at Mrs K's, I saw the cutest kitty with the fattest belly ever! He was so big! He could've eaten Mr Puddles, y'know?"

"Mmmm" Diego hummed, the cat in question was technically a propane tank with legs.

"So fluffy…!" Theodore hummed as he rubbed sleepily at his eyes. "Fluff—fluff—fluffy…"

Whatever Theodore had been about to say was cut off by a yawn (apparently he was coming down from that drug-induced high), before he twisted around in his seat and cuddled up dangerously close to his uncle. He put his head on his shoulder and wrapped himself around the arm closest to him. Diego froze as Theodore readjusted himself a few times until he got comfortable, muttering something about the fluffiness of cats as he did so. And then just like that, Theodore was asleep.

Diego remained motionless even as they cruised down the street (much to the chagrin of those behind him). It was like he was worried that even the slightest twitch would rouse the boy, even though he was pretty certain (as told from past experience) that not even an earthquake would pull him from his slumber. Exhaustion had overcome the giddiness of the painkillers, pulling the Garde boy under and even though they were still in the close confines of his car, Diego was pretty sure that Theodore was dead asleep by this point.

For the life of him, Diego couldn't say why he was just so worried about accidentally waking him up, though. Part of him argued that he probably should've woken him up, to keep him conscious at least until they reached his apartment because even though he was a pint-sized kid, an unconscious body was still hard to manoeuvre either way; at least that was Diego's experience. At the very least, he probably should have pushed the boy off of his arm so that he could, y'know, drive without fear of crashing into the car in front. But Diego didn't do any of those things; instead he simply pressed gently on the accelerator so that they could continued slowly down the road. It was slow-going; all those stops & turns that were all taken ever-so-gently, to the point that even Klaus could've probably driven faster (y'know, if Diego ever let him behind the wheel) but he couldn't find it in himself to wake the boy.

The car was blissfully quiet for the rest of the drive even as they pulled up to the sort-of parking allocated to the boxing gym that ran up the side of the building. The rickety Volvo rumbled to a stop next to Al's Ford and Diego turned off the car, all without waking Theodore. Glancing down at his nephew, he found the boy still fast asleep with his cheek squished up against his arm, a generous trickle of drool that fell from his lips and a peaceful expression upon his face. He looked like this; which was weird because Theodore was just a child, but there was typically a hint of maturity about the boy in everyday life.

It was the kind of maturity that was impressed upon those who were ravaged of their childhood thanks to some outside/unforeseen traumatic force; the kind that went hand-in-hand with the fact that he looked to be carrying the weight of the world around on his shoulders, always worried about someone (usually Vanya) else. Diego understood that maturity a little bit more, considering his own childhood had been taken from him by a man who had tried to mould them into fearless superheroes (and failed). He supposed that it just came with the territory; that after everything they had collectively been through, being anxious/stressed about somebody else wasn't that strange. He just wished that someone so young didn't have to worry about stuff like that.

None of that stress was present now, though. Theodore looked rather relaxed and unburdened as he drowned Diego's arm in drool. It made his heart melt at the sight of him (even though he was inwardly gagging at the spit coating his arm). Maybe it was the emotional rollercoaster that he'd been travelling on throughout the past couple of days, but Diego didn't even try to deny how warm and gooey he felt when he looked at his nephew, sound asleep. He liked to think that that's how you knew when someone was special, when even their company could make you feel better even without them needing to be conscious. And even though (with the Hargreeves track record speaking for itself) this peace was unlikely to last, Diego let himself bathe in the moment for a few more minutes as he slowly contorted himself so that he could rest his head against Theodore's crown.

In the end, Theodore woke himself up. His peaceful expression disappeared, instead replaced by something a little more frustrated as he muttered irritably in sleep about bears and…dogs? Diego was sure that if he had more context, then it still wouldn't have made much sense because inebriated people never tended to. Jerking upright as his head rolled from its position on his uncle's arm, Theodore tiredly peered about for a moment like he was trying to remember where he was, like he had managed to somehow sleep it off in about twenty minutes. But that moment soon passed and his face quickly scrunched up as he cradled his arm close with a quiet groan (hopefully from sleeping in an awkward position and not something that would require them to go back to the hospital).

Diego felt a stab of sympathy and concern course through him, even though he knew there wasn't much he could do right now; at least not until the painkillers wore off and Theodore got some rest. Reaching out, he patted the boy on his crown just the same, something which brought forth a quiet chuckle when the boy jumped at the sudden contact as if he'd forgotten that he wasn't alone. Wide eyes snapped up and over to the left where he followed the hand up the arm to his uncle's expectant face.

"Don…?" Theodore rasped, his voice thick with sleep.

"Mornin" Diego replied softly, melting a little bit more at the sight of his sleepy-eyed nephew.

"Wha…?"

"Okay, Teddy, I need you to listen, okay?" They'd been sitting in the car long enough by this point and Diego still had to track down at least some trace of his wayward siblings.

"Okay" Theodore nodded seriously (a look that would've been more realistic had his pupils not been blown so wide) as his eyes remained glued to the man next to him, completely focused.

"Here's the game plan: once we're upstairs, we'll be fine and you can go take a nap with Munchie, okay?" Diego turned as much as he possibly could to face the boy.

"Munchie~!" Theodore brightened at the mention of the dog.

"Teddy, are you listening?" Diego clicked his fingers a couple of times

"Uh huh" Theodore nodded seriously, eyes never once straying from Diego's.

"Alright, ready?" He glanced up at the side of the dilapidated building, before coming back to the eyes burning a hole in his head and the blissfully sweet smile on boyish lips.

"For what?" He blinked innocently.

Diego simply banged his head against the steering wheel and groaned lowly, much to the puzzlement of Theodore.