Enjoy~

Peter ran down the paved roads, running into people who would yell at him but he didn't care. He was in a hurry and nothing would stop him, not even if Thanos came down the from heavens and threatened him, he would still be running to his destination. They had been looking for Rocket ever since he had stormed off of the ship in a rage and hadn't come back, none of them were having any luck though, until now that is. Someone had told Peter that they had seen Rocket taken by men with jackets of one of the animal controls in the area because he had attacked someone. Peter didn't know about the rules here but he knew that back home dangerous animals were put down and he couldn't let that happen. Peter burst through the doors and a few people screamed in surprise as he ran up to the desk, panting in front of a startled and concerned woman.

"I was informed that you found something like this today," Peter told her, showing her a picture Groot had given him of Rocket earlier. "Where is he?" Her expression fell and she pointed to a door to Peter's left.

"At the very end of the hall, the last door to your left," she told him shakily. "Better run." Peter grabbed the picture and ran down the hall without a second thought. He had to make it in time, he just had to, there was no way this was happening. Peter ran down the hallway, startling a worker or two on the way and skidded to a halt in front of the last door on the left. He went through and his blood ran cold. Rocket attached to a medical table by a chain around his neck, the man there jumped when he saw Peter burst in, an empty syringe in his hand. He was just one second too late.

"Rocket!" Peter shouted and ran over. He shoved the man out of the way and unlocked Rocket's collar, picking him up slowly and cradling him like a child. The little guy looked up at Peter blankly, holding to life just a little longer. "No, no no, Rocket no!" Peter fell to his knees and looked down at Rocket. "No, come on Rocket, stay with me buddy." Rocket put a weak hand to Peter's chest, drawing in a weak breath.

"'M sorry, Peter," Rocket barely managed and let his eyes finally close, the lids feeling heavy and life too hard to hold onto.

"Rocket? Come on, buddy, wake up," Peter whispered weakly. "Rocket?" The body was completely still in his arms. "No, no no no." Peter held Rocket close, holding back his tears. "I'm sorry Rocket, I should have been faster." Peter didn't care to look at the doctor's face, knew that he would probably kill him if he did, so he merely rose to his feet and left the room. No one spoke when they saw Peter walk out of the room, the woman behind the desk looked very sad as she watched Peter leave the building and go outside, heading for the ship.

Peter walked down the street with Rocket in his arms, getting confused looks from people standing around him but he didn't care. All he cared about was that his friend was dead and he could have done something about it, he just wasn't fast enough. He kept running through his head what he would say to the others, especially Groot, he wasn't sure if Groot knew what putting an animal to sleep was, exactly. When Peter reached the ship he didn't enter it, not knowing who was back and who wasn't, he just stood there and stared at it blankly. What was he going to do?

"Pete?" He froze, tensing up. He looked down slowly, Rocket's glazed eyes looking up at him. "Am I dead?" Peter's eyes widened. They hadn't given him enough. Instead of killing him, they just put him to sleep. Peter hugged Rocket, making him grunt in surprise.

"No, no you're not," Peter said with a happy laugh, tears in his eyes. Rocket hugged Peter back, laughing a bit himself. "Never do that again you idiot!" Rocket huffed and climbed on Peter's shoulder, tail wrapped around his neck affectionately as he curled up close.

"Not a chance," Rocket commented back. Peter grinned through the tears and ruffled the fur between Rocket's ears. Rocket growled a bit in irritation but didn't retort as he patted it back down. Peter headed back onto the ship, seeing everyone still there. They all sighed in relief when they saw Rocket and Groot grinned. What would they have said had he hadn't hesitated outside the ship? It didn't matter in the end. Peter watched Rocket hop to Groot's shoulder and tell them the whole story, leaving out the part where he actually got injected of course. That would stay between them.

Thanks for reading, please review, and have a bow chicka bow wow day!

Petchricor, QotG, signing off ;)