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Diego was aware that in the past he had done some pretty shady things. He was not shy nor felt constriction when it came to hurting people. After all, Diego had been bred his entire life to be a hero and hurt the bad guys without flinching. He was taught the difference between right and wrong, and he liked to think that from all of his siblings, he was the one who could distinguish the line better.
This was something he took pride in. Never hurt the innocent, only the guilty.
That’s why Diego felt extreme shame and remorse about calling an old lady to her home and threatening her with death: “You killed one of ours, Olga, now we’re coming after you. You’ll be dead by nightfall.”
The poor woman must’ve had her heart down her stomach after listening to such aggressive messages. And all for what? The message left at Elliott’s warehouse read: “ Öga För Öga ”, which thanks to Five, he now knew that it meant “ Eye for an eye ” in Swedish. Luther and he had really messed up by assuming Olga Foroga signed the crime scene. And more so, they went too far for calling and threatening the old lady.
“Wrong number. Have a lovely day.” Diego tried to fix it by attempting to be nice, yet he knew that his lousy effort of not sounding dangerous probably wasn’t enough to make up for the death threat.
Things were complicated as it was usual for the Hargreeves family. They were all trying to get back to 2019 using a briefcase from the Commission Five got mysteriously.
Diego tried questioning Five but the kid didn’t yield any explanation, he simply nagged them into learning when to accept help from others, when to detect you’re over your head and when to take a way out even if it was the easy choice. Diego’s pride was huge, nonetheless he knew Five was right. They had messed up too much in so little, a free ticket back home sounded pretty swell. Five tasked Diego to get Klaus while Five and Luther went to get Vanya and Allison.
To no one’s surprise, there was a time frame. They had a little over an hour to reunite at Elliott’s alley with their missing siblings. It also meant that Diego had a little over an hour to make things right.
To his luck, dealing with Klaus went smoothly, mainly because Klaus was actually Ben. Diego didn’t exactly care about how that happened, he was simply glad that his brother Ben, a much more responsible one, was back and in charge of Klaus’s body.
Ben asked Diego for a couple of minutes before going with him back to 2019, he too had unfinished business in the 60s. After a quick glance at his watch, he concluded that there was enough time for Ben to do whatever he had to do, and for him to take care of the thing that had been poking his gut the entire day.
“Actually there’s something I need to do first.”
It was not to his liking to be on the wrong side of the right/wrong line. He could take when people assume things and categorize him as bad, because he knew that he was good and had done nothing wrong. What he couldn’t deal with, is him actually being a bad person. Sure, Luther and he made a mistake, but that didn’t give him the right to just leave it at that.
He needed to make it up to Olga Foroga, or at least apologize face to face and explain himself. On the phone, she sounded really old and scared. He even feared that something out of fear could’ve happened to the old woman. Diego’s stomach turned upside down at the idea of an old lady getting hurt, or even dead because of his mistake. He felt he was not going to live peacefully with his consciousness hunting him with Olga Foroga.
He was planning on burying Elliott somewhere in the desert in an attempt to give him a decent burial instead of leaving him to rot in his warehouse but not before paying Olga Foroga a visit.
The yellow pages certainly were helpful, as they easily pointed Diego in the right direction to Olga’s house. He stopped by a small flower shop and bought what he thought was the most beautiful bouquet of all. It was rich, colorful and it smelled delightful. It urged him to make another stop at a liquor store where he got a nice wine and a box of Belgium chocolates, or at least that’s what the box said.
Diego was not an experienced romantic, however, even he knew he must have looked like a boyfriend going to apologize for being a jerk to his girlfriend with his flowers, wine and chocolates. The thing was, he didn’t know another way to get around a woman.
He pulled at Olga’s house porch, gathered the gifts he got for her and set himself to apologize. He was ready. A simple: “ Sorry for threatening you with your death, I made a mistake. Someone else killed my friend” would suffice.
Diego planted himself in front of the door and knocked the wood three times before an old, chubby lady with gray short locks popped in front of him. He froze, words didn’t come out of his mouth. Suddenly it all felt like a terrible idea. How was that sweet old lady going to trust him after getting a call so sinister early in the day?
“O-O-Olga Foroga?” Diego forced his words out with a subtle stutter.
“Why yes? Who’s asking?”
Her voice felt like honey. She was the depiction of the perfect grandma, the grandma he never had. Oh. His mother would be so disappointed with hearing that he harassed a poor old woman. Diego hated the idea of his mom being disappointed in him. And that only made him stutter even more.
“M-m-my name is D-D-D-Diego Hargreeves. I came t-t-to apologize for a c-c-call my brother and I made earlier about you k-k-killing one of ours and…”
“Oh sweetheart.” Olga interrupted Diego’s words by placing her soft, wrinkled and tender hand over Diego’s cheek. “I understand, boys will be boys. Not going to lie, you really got me at first, but then it came clear it was just a silly prank. Not very tasteful if you ask me, though I get it.”
Diego flinched at the initial sudden touch, not used to having anyone touching his face, no less in such a caring, light way. He couldn’t even register what she was saying, but her tone was not angry, which made Diego feel slightly better and more confident in his actions. He was trying to do the right thing.
“What do we have here?”
Diego glared down at his gifts and offered them to the woman who gladly took them. “Just a small present to make up for the fright my brother and I put you through, ma’am.”
“What a considerate young man.” She responded. “Your mother must be really proud of you.”
Diego couldn’t help but smile. It was short, a little crooked and sad. He really missed his mom, she was the person who cared about him the most, he thought, she was the one who explained to him about what’s right and what’s wrong, she always reminded Diego that despite everything he has done for the Umbrella Academy, he was still a good person. His mom was the reason he felt so eager to make things right with Olga Foroga.
The old woman noticed the switch in Diego’s attitude from nervous yet somehow stern to plain melancholic and sad. She realized that maybe his mother was a touchy subject and now, she was the one who felt bad about it. To Olga, that grown-ass man with a rough physique, looked so small, like a lost child on her porch. Her motherly instinct kicked in, and she did what she knew how to do best.
The oven rang letting her know that whatever she was baking was done.
“Oh, those are my famous chocolate chip cookies. Wanna come in and try some with a nice warm glass of milk?”
Diego had never eaten freshly baked chocolate chip cookies with milk. His mother followed his father’s commands and never baked or prepared any junk food. A small warm, tingly feeling invaded Diego’s entire body when a current of air pushed the smell of vanilla, butter and chocolate through his nostrils.
“I don’t want to intrude, ma’am.”
It had been a while since Olga’s grandchildren came by. Having some company other than her own thoughts and the T.V. would’ve been nice. Plus, it appeared to be that they both needed each other in some way.
“Nonsense. If you may, please this old woman by getting some cookies with her.” She smiled tenderly and moved to the side, inviting Diego in. “Is the least you can do after that call, young man.”
Diego grinned nervously, he checked the watch in his wrist. Time was still going by. Clock still ticking. The future of the world depended on getting on time to Five in order to go back to 2019.
Yet he could spare a few minutes to have chocolate chip cookies and milk with Olga Foroga.