The Assistant : Jimmy Fallon fanfic (under editing)

Chapter 24

" You ready, babe?" I called from the bathroom. I looked in the mirror at myself. I had on my outfit that Ryan liked best. it was a pair of skinny jeans that were faded around the thighs and had a few little rips on the knee. for my shirt, I wore a white "Go Army" shirt" that his platoon had signed.

" Yea." Jimmy walked into the bathroom pulling on his blue polo. he had on a pair of khaki cargo shorts. I gave him a sad smile as I finished my makeup. I turned to him and he looked down at me.

" You ready for this, babe?" he whispered, sadness in his voice. I nodded and pulled him to me.

" I am." I placed a short kiss on his lips. I pulled on my grey converse and grabbed my purse. we walked down the hall to the livingroom where the rest of the family was waiting.

" Let's go!" my mom gave me a reassuring smile and we walked to the car.

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" Okay... just a heads up. it looks worse than it is." my mom took a deep breath and looked me dead in the eyes. i nodded and squeezed Jimmy's hand. My mom walked into the room and I held Jimmy back for a second.

" Okay. if he's awake, he's gonna give you a hard time." I gripped Jimmy's shoulders and looked him dead In The eye." He is very protective... keep it in mind." I kissed his cheek and stepped into the room.

The room was dark, only light from a small lamp and whatever sunlight managed to get through the blinds lit the room. I could clearly make my brother out in the darkness. his tall figure was stretched over the bed. he had an I.V. in his right arm and tubes sticking out of him everywhere. I took a deep breath,and, with the help of Jimmy, shuffled over to the side of his bed. I wrapped my fingers around his large hand and leaned down into his ear.

" Hey Rhino...I love you so much. L- look... I'm wearing that shirt that you love..." I kissed his temple and took a step back. " this is Jimmy." I said to my unconscious brother, my voice cracking." I wanted y- I- I wanted you to m- meet him." I bit my lip to hold back the sobs threatening to escape my lips. " he's really nice.... and he- he means a lot to me." I felt a tear roll down my cheek.

" Stop. stop crying." I mumbled to myself and looked back over at Ryan. I squeezed Jimmy's hand and then Ryan's. " he's really good to me. you- Ryan you know that I need you here." I started sobbing. I felt my fury level double as I clenched my teeth. " I need you here! to... to keep me from doing stupid stuff, and to keep my boyfriend in check and..." I felt like someone was kicking me in the ribs with steel toed boots on. " and Ryan I need you to wake up so that you can protect me!" i gingerly laid my head on his slowly rising and falling chest and let myself cry and cry and cry. " please..." I mumbled." please wake up."

" Ray..." I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked behind me to see Jimmy, tears running down his face. I stood up and wiped my eyes. he took a step towards my brother and gently took his hand. I watched him shake my unconscious brother's hand, and then I knew.... I knew how much he really cared.

" Hello, Sir. uhm." Jimmy bit his lip and smiled sadly down at my brother. " I'm James. you can uh... you can call me Jimmy. I just wanted you to know that that girl over there." he glanced at me. " your sister? yea... she means the world to me. I just wanted to tell you that I will never.... ever let anything happen to her." I saw a tear fall from his face and land on the blanket. I wrapped my arms around Jimmy and rested my head on his back. we Stayed like that for a while.

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" I think it's on the first floor." I mumbled as Jimmy and I got into the elevator, 3 hours later. He pressed the button and we started down towards the cafeteria.

" Hey hey hey!" I grabbed Jimmy's arm as we walked past the gift shop.

" Yea?" he looked down at me.

" I need to go In here... you can come with me or go eat... whatever you want." I smiled weakly at him. he rubbed my cheek. and lead my into the shop. I automatically found what I was looking for.

" Really?" Jimmy looked down at me with a sarcastic smile on his face.

" Yes." I said as I plopped the pile of stuff in the counter.

" Will this be all maam." the cheeky redhead behind the counter chirped. I nodded and took Jimmy's arm and lead him to the cafeteria. we found a table and I pulled out the gifts.

" So this," I pulled out a triangle block of wood with holes in it and little golf tees In it." is Ryans favorite game. we would go eat at Cracker Barrel and all he would do was play this game." I smiled and carefully sat it down. " this." I pulled out a bag of Maxi Pads. " is an inside joke."

" How was that an inside joke?" Jimmy giggled.

" Well see, I went with him to Kroger to pick up his medicine and on the doctors note his gender read 'female '...so I ran to the women's section and came back with a box of these. the lady at the counter nearly died." I giggled, recalling the memory. I reached back into the bag and pulled out an orange sharpie. " this..." my smile wavered." this is an orange sharpie... we would spend hours upon hours drawing pictures with an orange sharpie... writing on eachother..." I held the marker in my hands and ran my thumb over the label. I sat it down quickly and wiped my eyes. I reached in again and pulled out a small Hot Wheel car." we would also spend hours and hours playing cars... james would always start fights though..." I giggled and pulled out the last item.

" What's that?" Jimmy said, looking at the simple brown box.

" This.... this is a Willow Tree. every year I would get him one of these... always a different one... These willow tree people don't have faces, but they tell a story." I turned the box around to show him the small character. it was a man in an Army Uniform holding a Metal and a flag. " these remind us of the small things... memories.... that stuff..." I smiled and placed the items back into the bag carefully. Jimmy looked me in the eyes.

" I love that." he stated simply.

" You love what?" I messed with my fingers.

" I love that you care so much. it gives you character.... it makes you... you." he kissed my cheek and walked away. He arrived moments later with 4 big bags of food and a tray.

" I figured we could eat down here? bring their food up later..." he sat a tray down in front of me. I nodded and pulled my plate towards me. I dug into my burrito.

" That yours?" Jimmy said.

" What?" I said, my mouth full.

" Is that your phone vibrating?" he looked down at my purse. I pulled my phone out and looked at the screen.

'Mom'

I clicked the answer icon and put the phone to my ear.

" Ma'am?" I mumbled through my full mouth.

" He's awake."