The rest of the evening was spent peacefully enough. After helping James into his pajamas and holding him until he fell asleep, Jessie fell asleep in his bed. Although it wasn't planned, it worked to Mondo's advantage, who otherwise would have wound up sleeping on the floor. The couch in the next room would have been more comfortable, but he refused to sleep away from Jessie, on the chance that James attacked her again. Mondo covered them both up with James' blanket before climbing into Jessie's bed to sleep.
All was well until sometime after midnight, when Jessie woke up to the sound of James' crying.
"James, what's the matter?!" she asked him.
"I... I don't feel well..."
Mondo, who had also awakened, turned on the bedroom lamp.
James certainly didn't look well. He was soaking wet with perspiration, and he couldn't seem to stop shaking.
"I... I'm so... cold..." he whimpered.
Mondo pulled the blanket off of Jessie's bed and helped her to wrap it around James' shoulders. For a long time, that was all they could get out of him, until he suddenly said, "Jessie?.."
"Yes, James?"
"I feel sick..."
"Sick how?" Jessie asked him.
"I feel... nauseous..."
Jessie and Mondo exchanged glances.
Mondo jumped off the bed and ran to get a basin.
James reached over to the nightstand. Unable to find what he was looking for, he pulled out the top drawer and dumped it's contents all over the floor.
"James, what are you doing?!"
"Jessie... I need... those pills... Where are they?"
"Those pills are what's making you sick, remember?"
"No..." he said wretchedly. "Jessie, I need them! Where are they!?"
"You can't have any more of them," Jessie said gently.
"Give them to me!!!" he shouted, gripping Jessie's nightgown. "What did you do with them?!"
"I flushed them down the toilet!!!" Jessie yelled right back. "They were killing you!"
"You wha---" James began, but never finished his sentence. Before he could say anything more, he grabbed the bucket Mondo had brought back and began vomiting his dinner into it.
"Mondo, go get a cold washcloth, hurry!"
Mondo quickly complied with her request.
"You're going to be all right," she told her sick partner. When he had finished, she wiped his mouth with the washcloth and whispered, "Everything's going to be all right, I promise."
"How?" he said pitifully, beginning to cry.
"Hey, where's Meowth?" asked Mondo.
Jessie looked over to Meowth's little bed in the corner. It was empty.
_
No one slept the rest of the night.
James spent the rest of the night either crying, vomiting, or hiding under five layers of blankets in a futile attempt to keep warm. Although he claimed to be freezing, he was sweating so profusely Jessie actually had to ring out his hair. She swore he felt as though he had a fever, and being under five blankets couldn't possibly be good for him. Still, his cold sweats came and went in spells, so he didn't spend every moment of the night under them. Jessie used the time he spend "unburied" to wipe his face, neck, and rest of his body. The smell of perspiration and sickness was terrible, she finally told Mondo to open the windows and let the room air out. After doing so, Mondo would look out every so often, hoping to see Meowth return.
When morning finally came and Meowth had still not returned, Mondo began to get worried.
"Maybe I should go look for him," he suggested.
Suddenly they heard the front door slam shut.
"Where have you been all night?!" Jessie asked Meowth, when he came into the room.
"Out," was the only answer he would give.
Too tired to scold him or question him further, Jessie dropped the subject, and returned to holding James. Although he was not cold at the particular moment, he was still shaking, (Jessie wasn't sure if he had actually ever stopped shaking) and for the last half hour he had been complaining of cramps in his stomach.
"Is dere anything Meowth can do?" the Pokémon asked.
"No, Meowth," Jessie said quietly. "I don't think there's anything any of us can do."
Mondo sighed tiredly and went to make breakfast.
"Jessie, I'm scared," James said, clutching his stomach. "These cramps are getting worse."
"James, I'm so sorry!" Jessie said tearfully, "I don't know how to help you..."
"I'm dying, aren't I?" he asked.
"No! You're not going to die, James, do you hear me?!"
"Yes, I am!" he cried. "I'm going to die, I know it!"
"James, you're not going to die, you're... you're just---"
"I'm SCARED!!!" he wailed.
Jessie scooped him into her arms as he began to crying again.
"I just want it all to go away," he sobbed.
"I know, James," Jessie whispered. "I do, too..."
_
The smell of bacon filled the air as Meowth entered the kitchen. Mondo was in the process of retrieving some eggs from the refrigerator when Meowth called out to him.
"Mondo..."
The young Rocket nearly jumped out of his skin, dropping the eggs in the process.
"Oh, Meowth, it's you..."
"Whadda ya gettin' so worked up for?" asked Meowth.
"I'm sorry, Meowth," sighed Mondo, kneeling down to clean up the broken eggs. "I don't know why I'm so nervous."
"Meowth knows why," the Pokémon said. "Ya know the boss'll wanna know how you an' James are doing on those pills soon. We gotta get outta here, an' I mean quick. We gotta find a place for Jess and James as soon as possible."
"Right," agreed Mondo, getting more eggs out of the refrigerator. "When should we leave?"
"The soon the better," said Meowth. "How about after breakfast?"
"No, we can't leave so soon," argued Mondo. "Jessie's been up all night taking care of James. We can't just leave her to care for him by herself without getting any sleep first. We can take care of James the rest of the day and let Jessie get some rest, then leave in the evening."
Meowth agreed. "All right, we'll leave this evening. But we gotta leave before dark."
"Why?" asked Mondo.
"So dat people will SEE da Meowth balloon leavin,' Meowth replied. "We want 'em thinkin' dat Jessie and James are gone, remember?"
"Oh, right..." said Mondo, tiredly. "I'm sorry, Meowth, I'm just so tired... I was up all night helping with James."
"I know..." the Pokémon sighed. "Meowth was up all night, too."
"Where were you?" Mondo asked. "We were worried about you."
Meowth clutched the bottle of pills Giovanni had intended for Mondo, but would say nothing more.
_
"Jessie, I'm so afraid," James cried, choking between sobs, "I hurt so much..."
"I know, sweetheart," she said, gently, "I really do..."
James looked up. "Jessie..."
"What?"
"You called me 'sweetheart'..."
Jessie blushed slightly as she fought to control the tears brimming in her eyes. As her partner's pain-filled green eyes gazed at her steadily, despite the fact that the rest of his body was shaking uncontrollably, she gently caressed his face.
"You ARE my sweetheart, James," she told him, the affection in her voice causing him to smile, despite his pain. "Always..."
"Really?" he asked.
"Really..."
"Jessie, I love you so much," he whispered.
"James, I..."
"Breakfast!" piped Mondo from the doorway.
Jessie reluctantly released James from her hold and got up. James made a slight whimper of protest.
"Here, James," Mondo said, holding out the plate for him.
"I don't want any!" James said, wiping hot tears from his face with his trembling hand. "Just go away!"
"James, you need to eat," Mondo protested.
"I'm not hungry!"
"Come on," Mondo coaxed, trying to hand him the plate. "You really need to eat--"
"I said I'm not hungry!" James shouted, knocking the plate out of Mondo's hands, and spilling the food all over the floor.
"Why did you do that?!" Jessie yelled at him.
James only started to cry again.
"God, I'm too tired to handle this anymore!" Jessie cried, holding her head with her hands as she felt tears welt up in her eyes.
"Miss Jessie, you need to sleep," Mondo said, putting his hand on her shoulder. "Go to bed for a while... Meowth and I will take care of James."
Jessie nodded and climbed into her bed, as Mondo began cleaning up the food. James' crying echoed in her mind as she fell asleep, causing her to sink into strange dreams...
_
Jessie was standing in front of a long black coffin. A single red rose was laid on top of it, causing a wave of fear to wash over her. Was this James' coffin? A crowd of mourners stood behind her, but she did not recognize anyone. An old woman stepped forward, taking the rose from the coffin and crying bitterly.
"Do I know you?" Jessie asked her. "You look familiar..."
"You don't know me yet," the old mother replied. "But I know you."
"Who are you?" Jessie asked her.
Instead of responding, the old women put her hand on the coffin and began singing words to a song Jessie didn't know.
"Temari o suki masho, mamaru nani, Itoshi kokoro..."
She turned to the crowd of mourners and continued singing.
"Dare no?"
The crowd echoed the words back to her. "Dare no?"
She turned to Jessie. "Anata?"
Jessie didn't know what to say, but the crowd answered for her. "Watashi?"
The old woman faced the coffin again and echoed the word. "Watashi?"
"Anata?" the crowd answered back to her.
She closed her ancient eyes and held the rose to her breast. "Doto rito uchi rita yume ni ru ukao..."
Although she did not know the song, Jessie felt the solemnness of the occasion. She wanted to talk to the old lady, but she didn't want to interrupt her. The old woman turned to the crowd again, pointing to the coffin. "Dare no?"
"Dare no?" the crowd echoed back.
"Anata?" she asked.
"Watashi?" they answered.
"Watashi?" she echoed.
"Anata?"
"Manmaru koro eiru..." The old lady sang, crying as the wind blew the petals off the rose and carried them away.
"The petals represent the soul of a lost loved one," Jessie heard a voice, her own voice, say.
"Doko yoku?" the old woman asked the crowd of mourners.
"Wa karan?" they answered.
"Nani ou?" she asked.
"Wa karan?" they responded again.
"Nani ga hoshii?" she asked, facing the coffin again.
Here the old woman and the crowd behind her clasped their hands, as if in prayer, and sang together, "Hoshii ha, eien..."
"Who are you?" Jessie asked again. She was crying, but she did not know why. Did she know this woman or her husband? The woman looked familiar, but Jessie was sure she had never seen her before.
"You don't belong here," the old woman told her.
"I... I didn't ask to be here..." Jessie told her.
"I know..." the old mother replied. "You belong... there."
She pointed at a procession carrying a coffin across the street. It was led by the head mourner, a woman wearing a black veil.
"That's where you belong," the old woman said again. "This is the future. You don't belong here."
"The future?" Jessie asked, walking across the street.
The coffin in the procession was also black, but there were no flowers on it. Suddenly a feeling of dread overtook her. She had to see who was in this coffin. If the other coffin contained the old woman's husband, who was in this one?
"Who's coffin is this?" Jessie asked the head mourner, who's face was concealed by a black veil.
The woman did not respond.
"Please!" Jessie begged. "I have to know!"
When still she received no answer, Jessie ran to the coffin. Taking a deep breath, she raised the lid...
_
"Miss Jessie, are you all right?" Mondo cried.
"The coffin... I have... to know..."
"Hey, Jess, wake up!" Meowth's voice called.
Jessie opened her eyes. She was on the floor, with Meowth and Mondo staring down at her.
"What happened?" she asked.
"You fell out of bed," Mondo explained, helping her up.
"I never got to see who was in the coffin," Jessie said to herself.
"Uh? Coffin?" Mondo asked.
Jessie shook her head. "Nevermind... James! How's James?" she asked, rushing over to his bed.
Her partner was lying on his back in what seemed to be a trancelike state. His eyes were staring blankly into space, and his face bore an expression of dull suffering that made Jessie want to cry.
"James, can you hear me?" she asked, waving her hand slowly in front of his face. "James, please look at me."
He turned his head slowly and stared at her without saying anything. It seemed more as if he were looking THROUGH her than AT her.
"How long has he been like this?" she asked.
"About an hour, maybe longer," said Mondo. "Before that he just laid there and cried, saying that it hurt all over. Now he won't speak to us, and he doesn't respond when we talk to him."
"James, please talk to me!" Jessie said franticly. "Say something!"
He remained silent, staring at her helplessly.
"James, please! You're scaring me! Please say something!"
He opened his mouth, but no words came out. He mouthed her name silently.
"Meowth, go get him some water!" Jessie said quickly. "Hurry! Now!"
Meowth hurried out.
"Did you get him to eat anything?" Jessie asked Mondo.
"He wouldn't eat any breakfast," said Mondo, "but he ate his lunch when we offered it to him."
"How long have I been asleep?" Jessie asked.
Mondo looked at his watch. "Almost nine hours."
Jessie nearly fell over. "NINE hours?! Why didn't you wake me up?!"
"You were so tired," said Mondo. "And you needed to rest since Meowth and I won't be here to help you."
Jessie looked confused. "Huh? Why not?"
"Cuz we're leavin' ta find yous a place ta live," answered Meowth, returning with the water.
"A place to live?" Jessie asked, helping James to sit up and drink the glass of water.
"Well, you can't stay here much longer, Miss Jessie," said Mondo. "Giovanni doesn't care about any of us, and if we stay here, he'll just try to use us again."
"Jessie?" It was James.
"Oh, thank goodness!" Jessie said, relieved to hear him speak.
"It smells bad in here," James said, wrinkling his nose.
Jessie looked away. She couldn't very well tell him that HE was the reason it smelled so bad. But he was sure right. The smell of sickness and perspiration was overpowering.
"Would you like a nice bath?" she suggested. "That would give Mondo and me a chance to clean up in here, and it would probably make you feel better, too."
James nodded, letting her help him out of bed. Mondo began stripping off the sheets as Jessie led her partner into the bathroom.
_
"Here, let me help you," Jessie said, helping James to remove his clothes as the water ran in the tub. He couldn't seem to make his hands stop shaking long enough to undo the buttons on his pajama top.
"I'm the reason it smells so bad, aren't I?" he said, "I stink."
Jessie sighed, wishing she could have spared him that observation. "It's not just you. Everyone smells pretty bad right now, James. We stink, Mondo & Meowth stink, the whole place stinks."
"Because of me..."
"You're sick, James. You can't help it," Jessie said, helping him into the tub. "Besides, you'll be nice and clean in few minutes."
As she helped him to sit down in the tub, she suddenly realized that she couldn't possibly leave James alone. Rather or not he could bathe himself was doubtful, and she felt like an idiot for ever considering leaving him alone in his condition. Somewhat embarrassed, she finally asked, "Would you like me to help you?"
James nodded gratefully, handing her the washcloth and soap and letting her wash his back.
"Everything's going to be all right, I promise," she said, lathering up the washcloth with soap and scrubbing under his arms. "Here, lift up your arms... I'll take care of you, and as soon as you're well..."
Jessie stopped. She suddenly realized that once James was better, she had no idea what they would do. They would have no job, and at the moment, she didn't even know where they were going to live.
James hadn't seemed to notice that she had stopped talking. He closed his eyes as Jessie scrubbed him, letting the clean smell of the soap overtake his senses.
"What are you thinking?" Jessie asked, hoping to get him to speak more, maybe even have a conversation.
James opened his eyes. "Promise you won't hit me?" he asked.
"James, do you honestly think I would hit you in your condition?"
"Well, I don't know..." he responded. "I was just thinking how nice it feels... having you wash me."
Jessie almost DID hit him, forgetting his sickness for a moment. But seeing the sincere, innocent look on his face, she smiled and said, "You know what, James? I like how it feels taking care of you."
"You do?" he asked.
Jessie nodded, blushing a little as she continued to scrub him gently. James sighed softly as she washed him. She tickled him gently in places, laughing as she caused him to giggle. The sound of his laughter warmed her heart. Since the whole ordeal with the pills began, it felt as though they had never laughed before. It almost seemed as if laughter were a foreign thing, known to them long, long ago in another lifetime, or perhaps another world.
Rather it was the warm water, the smell of the soap, or Jessie's tickling, James was beginning to feel invigorated, despite his pain. He continued to giggle as Jessie washed his face and neck. Jessie was still laughing herself as she reached for the bottle of shampoo and poured some into her hand.
"That smells nice," he sighed, as she shampooed his hair. "It smells like... strawberries..."
"Oh, I'm sorry!" Jessie said, looking at the bottle. "I grabbed the wrong bottle. I'm so used to grabbing this one, this is my shampoo."
"It's okay," James smiled, as Jessie's fingers massaged his scalp. "I seem to always be wearing your clothes anyway, so I guess using your shampoo won't matter much!"
They both burst into fits of giggles.
_
"How long is she going to BE in there?" Mondo asked, hearing the laughter on the other side of the bathroom door. "I though she was going to help me clean up. What are they DOING in there?"
"Oh, leave 'em alone," Meowth said, laying on James' newly made bed. "We gotta get ready to leave soon."
"I'm gonna make dinner for them first, so Jessie doesn't have to do it," Mondo said.
"We ain't got time for that!!!" Meowth yelled. "Ya shoulda done dat earlier if ya was gonna do it!
"But-"
"No buts! We shoulda left dis morning like Meowth said!"
"But what if he tries to hurt her again? What if..."
"We ain't got no choice!" Meowth told him. "We just gotta hope that since the drug's outta his system---"
Suddenly the door opened and Jessie came out, closing the door back. Without a word, she went to James' dresser and got a clean pair of pajamas, before going back to the bathroom and closing the door behind her.
Meowth and Mondo exchanged glances.
"Look, Jessie's a tough goil," Meowth said, "She can take care of herself."
Mondo just stared sadly at the closed door. "She loves him..."
"I know..." Meowth agreed. "She don't never say it, but Meowth knows she does. An' James loves her, too. Ya gotta except it, Mondo."
"I know," Mondo said, continuing to stare at the bathroom door. "I always have. But I'll never forgive him if he hurts her."
"Meowth t'inks dat da woirst is over," Meowth replied. "It's Giovanni we gotta worry about now."
Mondo nodded in agreement. He gathered up James' soiled sheets to take to the laundry mat, sighing tiredly as he left.
_
After drying James off and helping him to put on his pajamas, Jessie led him out of the bathroom and back into bed.
"Here you go," she said gently, wiping his still-damp hair out of his face. "Get some rest, okay? I'm going to go see if there's anything I can manage to cook without burning the place down."
James took hold of her hand as she turned to leave.
"Jessie?"
"Yes, James?"
"Thanks for taking care of me..." he said gently, laying her hand over his heart. "Thank you... for loving me."
Jessie smiled and sat down on the bed. "I've always loved you, James," she said. "I just... never stopped to put it into words before. I never really thought about what it would be like if I ever-"
She stopped. She was going to say 'If I ever lost you," but the reality of those words just hit too close to home. The truth was, she had never even considered that she COULD lose James. The simple fact was that over the years, her blue-haired friend and partner had become a part of her. His presence in her life had become as natural as breathing, and she never considered that anything could ever take something so natural, and yet infinitely precious from her life.
For moment they gazed at each other, until he slowly began pulling her towards him. She closed her eyes as he touched her face, letting him pull her still closer until their lips met, and they kissed softly.
James felt sure that he must be experiencing some sort of delirium, but he didn't care. Their kiss was brief, but seemed to fill him with sweet, heavenly energy that made him feel giddy. Jessie loved him... the entire concept was enough to make him giggle with happiness. Jessie blushed as she pulled away.
"Jessie?" he asked.
"Yes?"
"Could you... sing to me?"
"Sing to you?" she asked.
"I remember having this dream... you were singing to me..."
Jessie smiled. "I sang to you yesterday, while you were asleep."
"You did?"
Jessie nodded.
"I don't remember..." he said, looking away. "Jessie, why am I sick again? I can't remember..."
"Giovanni," Jessie reminded him. "He gave you those pills."
"I don't remember..."
"It's all right," Jessie said, crawling into bed with him and letting him nestle into her arms. "Just close your eyes and try to sleep now, and I'll sing to you."
James nodded and closed his eyes. As the sound of her singing filled his head, forcing his eyelids to close, it amazed him how much she seemed to change when she sang to him. She had the voice of an angel, and the gentle melody revealed the soft side of her inner nature that she kept hidden from the rest of the world. He lay surrounded by her warm embrace and the sound of her voice, somewhere in the blissful border between consciousness and sleep, until her singing stopped, and she whispered,
"Good night, my sweet love..."
He opened his eyes. It wasn't often that Jessie was this affectionate, and it was enough to startle him back awake. He found that he loved this side of her, the gentle, nurturing side that she so seldom revealed. He looked up at her. He could tell by her startled expression that she thought he had fallen asleep.
"Am I really your sweet love?" he asked.
"Always," she whispered. "Now go to sleep."
Jessie kissed James' blue hair once more before getting up and going into the kitchen. James smiled happily, settling down under the covers and falling fast asleep.
_
"Miss Jessie, I was just coming to see you," said Mondo, getting up from the kitchen table.
"What is it?" she asked.
"Meowth and I are ready to leave."
Jessie nodded mutely.
"James' sheets are down at the HQ laundry mat..." Mondo continued.
"Okay, thank you..." she responded. "Mondo... please don't be gone long..."
She swallowed hard, trying not to admit, even to herself, that she was afraid. She was afraid of being alone with the man she loved. Her fear was not so much OF her partner as it was FOR him. What if his condition worsened, and she couldn't handle it by herself? What if something happened to him and she panicked, or didn't know what to do? But she refused to admit this. Her pride forced her to push away those thoughts, but it could not erase the obvious fear in her eyes.
"Please be careful Mondo, and come back soon."
Mondo didn't even bother to try to hide the tears in his own eyes. He ran to Jessie and hugged her tightly.
"We will, Miss Jessie. We'll find a nice place for you to live and then we'll be back. We'll be back as soon as we can, I promise!"
Jessie returned her young friend's embrace.
"Come on, Mondo, we gotta get goin'," Meowth said, walking out of the room.
"I'll be there in a minute," Mondo called. He pulled away from Jessie and took his hands in her own. "I know you're scared, Miss Jessie," he said, looking into her eyes. "I won't leave you alone long, I promise! Meowth and I will do everything we can to keep you safe from Giovanni and..."
He stopped a moment before continuing.
"Miss Jessie, if James... if he hurts you..." he stopped again, trying to carefully phrase his words. Unable to find a right way of expressing his feelings, he finally blurted, "If he hurts you in any way, I... I won't forgive him!" With that, he ran from the room, following Meowth out the door.
_
For a long while, the image of Mondo's tear-filled eyes refused to leave Jessie's mind. It left her more confused than anything else. Finally, she shook her head and began searching though the kitchen for something she could make for dinner. The refrigerator was pretty bare, but the pantry still had some canned goods in it. She finally took a can of soup, figuring that even SHE could cook a pan of soup...
James woke up to the sound of an explosion. He lay quiet, hearing screaming, cursing, and crashing from the kitchen. He could only draw one terrible conclusion; Jessie was trying to cook again.
"James, dinner!" Jessie called out awhile later, walking into the room with a bowl of soup.
James sweatdropped. Jessie's hair was frizzled and burnt, and her uniform had stains of every color and description. A strange burning smell floated in from the kitchen, causing him to choke.
"What's... that smell?..." he coughed.
It was Jessie's turn to sweatdrop. "Oh, I just had a little accident or two in the kitchen... wasted about three cans of soup... But this time I'm SURE I got it right!"
"What is it?" James asked.
"Pea soup."
"With the little chunks of ham?" James asked.
"Just how you like it."
James picked up the spoon, nervously holding it to his lips. The last time he and Meowth had sampled Jessie's "cooking" she had somehow managed to fry fish burnt to charcoal on the outside, and still raw on the inside. Meowth had claimed it took out eight of his nine lives. James had thought something similar at the time, and he wasn't too eager to risk borderline food poisoning again. He glanced at Jessie nervously, his shaking hands still holding the spoon to his lips.
"Do you need some help?" Jessie asked, noticing his shaking hands. "Here, let me..." She took the spoon from him and stirred the soup, before holding another spoonful to his lips.
Figuring there wasn't anyway out of it, James squeezed his eyes shut and hoped for the best...
"Well?" Jessie asked, as he swallowed.
James opened his eyes. He looked at her with a puzzled expression.
"It's actually... good."
Jessie beamed. "It is? It's actually edible? Let me try... Hey, it IS good!" she laughed. "If I had known not to cook it on "Super-high" I wouldn't have had to waste all those other cans of soup!"
James looked confused. "Our stove goes to "Super-high?"
"Sure it does. When you make fire come out of the burners."
James turned blue. "FIRE?! But we don't have a gas stove!..."
"Huh? You mean it's not supposed to do that?" Jessie asked.
"NO!"
"Ooooh..." Jessie said, realization dawning on her. "So THAT'S why it exploded!"
_
The rest the evening was fairly mild for James. His cramps and cold spells had disappeared, at least for a while, and he had even managed to stop shaking by the time Jessie had tucked him into bed.
When he had fallen asleep, Jessie went to take a shower, hoping to get the burnt smell out of her hair. As the warm water cascaded over her body, she actually found herself humming as she let her thoughts wander.
"Maybe everything will be all right after all," she thought, filling her hair with the smell of strawberry shampoo. "Meowth and Mondo will come back and get us out here, and everything will be fine."
But the ordeal wasn't over yet...
