"I'M SORRY!" schmidt yelled as he swerved sharply to merge into traffic. "mmmmm" jess whimpered holding on tighter to nick. "almost there... almost there" he repeated over and over again holding onto her just a tightly as she was holding onto him. "five minutes, maybe?" cece said reaching back to sooth her best friend. they had managed to find a hospital about forty minutes from the trail head, but schmidt made the drive much quicker and the whole group was shocked he didn't get a ticket for it.
just then jess's grip slackened, and her head lulled back. "OH MY GOSH SHE PASSED OUT" yelled nick. "it's okay, it's okay!" aly grabbed his shoulder "she is really overwhelmed and dehydrated and in pain— it's okay— we are almost there too" even though what aly said made sense, nick began to panic. "hey jess... jess... JESS!" he gripped her shoulders and shook her slightly. to his relief, her eyes opened quickly. she gasped and quickly curled forward again. "JESSICA!" nick exclaimed "you can't do that again— you can't do that to me again" he said quieter and she looked up to see tears in his eyes. "i-i'm sorry" she cried and curled herself into him. he didn't answer, he just hugged her close and prayed they would get there soon. "you have to stay awake, jess" he mumbled into her hair. she just nodded and focused on nick's heart beat to have her attention on something. she wanted to sleep so badly, but she couldn't she pulled back and look at nick with long blinks. "don't you dare" nick pleaded. and she didn't. she kept her blue eyes on his the whole rest of the ride. it killed nick because he watched tears falling from them the whole time, but at least it meant she was awake.
"here!" schmidt called turning into a parking structure. "let me out!" nick snapped and schmidt threw the car in park and jumped out to help open the door for his friend. nick gathered jess into his arms and speed walked into the er entrance.
"HELP!" he yelled walking in "my friend she just passed out and woke up again and we were hiking and she threw up and her stomach hurts... hurts... apendix... he trailed off as a nurse came up. "one second" she told him and disappeared. she reappeared a few moments later with a gurney and prompted nick to lay jess down onto it. he hesitated only for a moment and then tried laid her down. "NO!" jess screamed clinging to nick. "jessica, it's okay, you're safe— these guys are going to help you" he assured her even though he himself really didn't love being in a hospital at all. but if it was for jess, he would swallow it. "you think it's her appendix?" the doctor asked quickly. nick just nodded wordlessly still clinging to jess's hand. nick was so lost in thought about how he got to this moment he was having trouble answering. "how long has she been in pain?" "oh... all day" nick said suddenly feeling so much guilt. he should have known she wasn't okay. he should have been more direct with her to figure out what was really wrong. "we need to give her an ultra sound to make sure it's her appendix and then take her into surgery if it is." nick didn't say a word, he just followed the doctor back with jess— never letting go of her hand.
