Peter watched as Drax gently picked Rocket up and rushed into the medbay, followed by a concerned Groot. The raccoon wasn't even fighting being carried, which worried the human even more. The Awesome Mix Vol. 3 would have to wait. If only Rocket's face was shaped differently Peter would have put the mask on him to give him more air.

"We should get him to a hospital." Gamora's expression was hard for Peter to read. Something kinda like worry. Maybe.

"Could we have a doctor make a ship-call instead? You know how he is about hospitals. The last thing we need is him being frantic and refusing treatment. Honestly, I'm not good with hospitals either."

"We may lack the proper equipment, but I agree. I understand why Rocket would dislike them, but why do medical facilities bother you?" She sounded genuinely curious.

Peter looked away and sighed. "…Hospitals are where people go to die. And not the cool, go-out-in-a-blaze-of-glory-defending-the-galaxy kind of death. But a sad, weak death."

"I will arrange it." The green woman nodded and hurried off towards the cockpit.

Peter entered the medbay. Groot sat beside Rocket's bed, holding the raccoon's paw. The tree could do what he couldn't without a second thought. Even though they were on the cozy Milano, it still reminded him of his mom.

"You takin' me to the hospital?" Rocket's voice was soft and raspy. A few small spots of blood stained some of the fur around his mouth.

"Nah, we're gonna have a doctor come to the ship. Amazing plan, right?" Peter faked a smirk.

"That's good." The raccoon smiled weakly.

"Don't die on me." Peter whispered under his breath, but Rocket probably still heard it. He walked out to the common room. Seeing Rocket like that was too painful.

Peter imagined finding a doctor meeting their criteria on such short notice would be difficult. They needed a doctor that was willing to make house-calls, familiar with animal physiology without actually being a vet, and that they could afford.

Gamora approached him. "We need to fly to Maknex Prime, the doctor will meet us there. It's not far. I'll set the course." The green woman returned to the cockpit.

Peter nodded at her and walked into his little dining room, sitting at the table. He knew he should eat something despite not being hungry. A call appeared on the screen, and the human picked up. Yondu was wearing fancy, gaudy jewelry that completely contrasted his rugged appearance. He looked all too pleased with himself, but the smile dropped when he noticed the human's expression. "Hey, boy. Why the long face?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe it's that one of my friends is kinda dying right now from the injuries you gave him. Remember what I said?" Peter glared at him through the monitor.

"The rat?" Yondu obviously knew exactly who he was talking about, but clarifying made him sound more aloof.

"He's a raccoon, but yeah, him." Peter avoided looking at Yondu's red, intense eyes.

"I'll send him a get-well card." This was one of those times when Peter had no idea whatsoever if Yondu was being serious or not. "Where ya at?"

"Maknex Prime. What are you wearing?" The jewels looked familiar. "Wait, are those the Gramosian royal jewels? How did you manage to steal those?" He figured Ravagers wouldn't even be allowed on the planet after he "manipulated" their duchess.

"Hehe, wouldn't you like ta know?" Yondu smirked with pride. "But that ain't important right now. I called because ol' Kraggy was planning to take a trip to Terra soon and he wanted to know if you were interested in coming along."

That gave Peter plenty of questions. How long had they been going there without him? Why go now? Why bother inviting him after he's left them? Maybe Yondu thought Peter would stay if he went back to Earth. "I'll think about it." It would be much better to go with his friends, but that would be difficult. Thwarted Chitauri invasion aside, most humans probably still didn't know about aliens. Even if they did, the reaction would be hostile. On the other hand, Kraglin looked no different from a human so it would be easy. A brilliant plan began to form in his mind, but he filed it away in his thoughts for later.

"Right. Take care a' yerself, boy." And with that the Centaurian hung up.

The doctor boarded the Milano about an hour after the Guardians had docked on the planet. He was a stout orange man with receding green hair. It took everything Peter had to resist calling him an Oompa-Loompa. He, Gamora, and Drax all met the doctor and shared introductions before hurrying him to the medbay. "I'm gonna warn you, doctors make him nervous." Peter realized that was a bit of an understatement.

"What are his ailments?"

Rocket twitched upon seeing the man. The raccoon was visibly apprehensive, but made no objection. "Coughing blood. Hard ta breathe. Chest pains." He said quietly.

The doctor stared in awe at his patient. "Fascinating. Who created him?"

While the doctor was wise enough to not refer to Rocket as an "it," Peter still didn't like his tone. "Psychos on Halfworld." The human glared as he said it. The raccoon wasn't an animal or a specimen to be studied, he was a person.

"I see." The physician set his large bag down and pulled out a scanner, and held it out towards Rocket, asking him various questions.

Peter left the room, putting on his headphones and letting himself be swept away by the comforting sounds of Awesome Mix Vol. 1.

Peter woke up with a start, realizing he had slept though a few of the songs. The sound of the doctor walking out of the medbay was what had woken him. "What's up, Doc?"

"He has a pulmonary contusion." The doctor seemed to expect Peter to actually know what he was talking about.

"And that means what, exactly?" He asked, confusion written on his face.

"Bruised lung."

"Is he gonna be okay?" The human tried to not sound too worried, but it didn't work.

"He'll need to be kept on oxygen and closely monitored for a few days, but it will likely heal on its own. It would be best if you stayed here for now, I'll check in briefly each day."

Peter let out a sigh of relief.

The next day, Gamora and Drax informed Peter of their song selections so he could finish the playlist. Fighter by Christina Aguilera for the assassin, Bring It by Trapt and Nostalgia by Sungha Jung for the maniac. That last one seemed like a weird choice, being a soft acoustic guitar ballad, but Peter was sure Drax had his reasons. He plugged his trusty headphones into the music player. He only liked just over half of the songs, but it was theirs. That made it precious. Peter played the Awesome Mixes in order over the Milano's sound system. He had been avoiding the medbay, but eventually decided to check on Rocket.

Rocket was getting oxygen from a tube in each nostril. Groot was by his side, which was to be expected, but Peter was surprised that Drax sat at the foot of the bed. Nostalgia began to play. "This song has a similar melody to a lullaby from my planet. Let me sing to you the song of my people." The bedridden raccoon only mumbled complaints about Drax's singing for a few moments before drifting to sleep. The tattooed man sounded somewhat tone-deaf, but his low voice was soft and incredibly soothing.

The following day, Kraglin showed up and handed Peter a small box. "This is from the Captain, for the furry runt. By the way, if you're thinkin' about going to Terra on your own, I know a guy that'll give you a real good exchange rate on non-unit currencies. Here's his card."

"Thanks." After exchanging nods, the Ravager left as quickly as he came. The human looked inside the box to make sure the contents weren't a trap, and he smiled.

Once in the medbay, Peter sat on the edge of the bed. "Yondu sent you a present."

"Send it back." Rocket hissed.

"I thought you liked gifts."

"Not from him. It's probably booby-trapped."

"You'll like this one." He handed the raccoon a small gun.

"Oh, this my gun I dropped. Huh." Rocket seemed genuinely surprised.

"There's also this." Peter held up an adorable figurine of a raccoon.

"Set it on the floor, over there." The human did as asked, and without warning Rocket incinerated it with his blaster. Peter jerked back, the heat only missing him by a few inches.

"You almost hit me!"

"But I didn't." He smirked.

"Gimme a heads-up next time, okay?" As annoying as Rocket could be, Peter was glad that he was up to his usual antics even now. The raccoon's uncharacteristic behavior the other night had the man really worried.

That night, the whole group had stayed with Rocket in the medbay. Groot was beside the bed, Peter leaned against the opposite side of the bed, Gamora slept in the chair in the corner, and Drax was sprawled on the floor.

By afternoon of the next day, Rocket was feeling good enough to tinker, using various metal parts to make a cane rather than a weapon. Yet Peter bet the raccoon could weaponize the cane somehow, he could make a weapon out of anything. He imagined the cyborg making a coffee mug that doubled as a laser turret. The human was sitting on the edge of the bed, watching the fur-covered mad genius.

"So what are we doin' Quill?" Rocket stopped working on the cane, letting the pieces rest in his lap.

"Nothing till you get better. Then maybe look for some work." They had been able to do a number of jobs with Groot out of commission, but also counting out Rocket would make things difficult. And considering his stubborn nature, he'd likely try to be involved anyway.

"I'm pretty much fine. Doc said my readings look good, I can get taken off oxygen today. Foot's healing too."

"You'll need time to recover." Peter said sternly.

"I expected this lecture from Gamora and Groot, not you Quill. Now you all think you're my mother? I'm sick and tired of being in this d'ast bed." He huffed. "There's someplace I'd kinda like to visit."

"And where's that?" Peter wasn't about to let Rocket plan some ridiculous scheme in his condition.

The raccoon's eyes flashed with determination. "Procyon."