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Oz nodded, but didn’t look especially happy about the idea of leaving her side. “I’ll go speak with your doctors about their treatment plans.”

She tried to keep from rolling her eyes. “Treatment plans.” Right. Their treatment plans involved a coffin and then a large bill being sent to her estate.

Oz shuffled from the room, leaving her alone with Poacher .

She held out the medical chart to him, and the man glanced down at it.

“Well…” He obviously tried to come up with some way of sugarcoating it for her.

“No bullshit.” She ordered, meeting his eyes. “I’m a professional.”

He moved the covers from off of her chest and stared down at the bandaged wound for a long moment, his face unreadable. “You have about an hour.” He pronounced, his voice tight. “Thirty minutes, if you talk a lot.” He cleared his throat. “I’m sorry.”

Receiving sympathy from Syd was pretty much the saddest thing she’d ever experienced.

Both in terms of it indicating just how far she’d fallen in life and in terms of his typically blissfully oblivious face being contorted with grief.

“Yeah.” She nodded somberly. “About what I figured.” She let out a long wheezing breath.

“I really fucked it up good this time, Syd.”

He was silent for a long moment. “Yep.” He finally nodded. “Everybody does, sooner or later, girly.” He looked down at the floor. “…Everybody does.”

She cleared her throat, trying to keep it together.

Crying in front of this asshole would be the final humiliation at the end of a particularly humiliating day.

“Listen… you’re basically my only friend besides Oz, Syd.

Well, the only friend I even kinda trust, anyway.

” She met his eyes again. “When I’m gone, I’m putting you in charge of Oz.

Keep him safe from himself, okay? Make sure he doesn’t do anything– or anyone– stupid. ”

He made an annoyed sound, like a child refusing to do his chores. “ Ooo-ooh , I don’t want to spend the rest of my life watching out for that little loser, Mull! Come on!”

She just continued staring at him.

He made a face, like she’d misunderstood.

“I didn’t say I wouldn’t , just that I won’t like it.

” He nodded, sounding sulky. “I’ll never understand why you’re so interested in him anyway.

The guy creeps me out sometimes. He’s like the suburban guy who is revealed to be the killer at the end of the Lifetime movie, but yet you knew it all along.

And everyone will talk about how, ‘It’s always the quiet ones. ’”

“He’s a good person. Better than us.”

“Oz is out of his fucking mind and you know it.”

“You can be out of your mind and still be a good person.” Natalie tried to keep her voice steady, thinking about leaving Oz without anyone to protect him from himself.

“Oz is just in his shell right now. The world hurt him and he’s hiding from it.

We need…” She swallowed, feeling weaker. “We need to…”

“He…,” Poacher cleared his throat, recognizing that she was getting tired and wanting to end the argument, “he won’t be alone.

Anyone messes with your boy, they’ll mess with me.

I’ll fuck their shit up good, and let them know you sent me.

You have my word.” He let out a long sigh.

“Hell, I don’t plan on living much longer anyway.

I can watch out for him until then. No big deal. ”

Natalie stared at the floor with unfocused eyes, trying to comprehend that she was going to die today.

The cereal had warned her, obviously, but it was still a hard concept to accept.

It was one of those things she’d always known, but it something that was going to happen in some far off distant future.

But death was going to find her in the far off distant now .

Somehow Captain Crunch had known.

Captain Crunch always knew.

“Well… shit.” She finally said softly, coming to terms with the inevitable. “Ain’t that a bitch.”

“Yep.” Poacher nodded. “Did… did you still want me to get you that organ sandwich? Or not? Because if you eat quick, you could probably finish it off.” He paused. “Unless there’s a line at the cart. Then you’d kinda be fucked. I mean more than you already are, obviously.”

“Don’t waste your money.”

“Oh, I wasn’t planning on paying .” He waved off that insane idea, heading for the door. “Haven’t paid for anything but strippers since I was 10.”

“You started visiting strip clubs at 10?”

“Hell no.” He turned to give her a friendly wink. “Before that they just danced for free.”

Oz appeared at the door again. “Are you done with your private conversation? May I return now?”

Mull rolled her eyes. The way Oz said “private conversation” was the same way someone else might have said “are you done fucking like drunk teenagers?”

“Yes, our torrid affair is done.” Mull informed him. “He’s finished making violent love to me and now I’m in that blissful warm period which follows.”

“Oh.” Oz nodded, processing that. “Um… good. I don’t know why anyone would…”

“That was a joke.” She told him, not entirely sure if he knew that or not. Sometimes it was hard to tell with Oz. She seriously doubted anyone in his life had ever teased him before.

Which was sad. Because with her gone, there’d be no one to change that. She could tell Syd to do it, but he probably wouldn’t like being ordered to flirtatiously tease Oz on occasion. That seemed like the kind of thing which might be too big an ask from her.

“Ah.” Oz looked vaguely relieved.

She pointed at the pitcher of water on her hospital tray. “You’re kind of slow tonight, you know that?”

He immediately poured her a glass and then held it out for her so that she could get a drink. “Well… I’ve had a bad day.”