Help Me

~Jimmy's Point of View ~

Serenity woke up pretty early this morning, and instead of waking me up, she left a note on emergency stuff and all that. I found it pretty amusing, but yeah, what don't I find amusing? Anyway. I woke up and checked on Evelyn who looked nothing other than fucking exhausted, but her face was no longer pale or anything. Her eyes and lips were red and puffy from all the crying she did last night, and her cheeks took on a very rosy tint. One of the most adorable sights ever!

At this point, I found it wise to call Val, who was the source of my three missed calls last night, so she could come and dress Lyn-Lyn for the day, because that was not something I was going to do. Since she was planning on being out with Michelle, to bring Matt and Brian over and maybe have a day with Evelyn while the girls did whatever they were going to do.

"Of course," Val squealed excitedly into my ear. "We'll be there in a sec!" And with that, she hung up on me.
"Well damn," I said before look down to Evelyn, who was still wrapped up in the covers of the guest bed.
"You mind if I lie down with you, Lyn-Lyn," I asked her, even though I was fully dressed already. I figured maybe this could be her room if Serenity needed me to babysit often.

Evelyn nodded at me slowly, staring up at me wide eyed. "But only of you take your shoes off first," she said.
"Oh, alright," I said, flashing the most dazzling smile I could manage. I'm a motherfucking charmer! "Just warning you, I'm a big cuddler, so you better be ready." Evelyn giggled as I tore my shoes off and jumped into the bed with her, then pulled her to me so that her little face was buried in the crook of my neck. Before I knew it, both Evelyn and I were snoozing again. Luckily I had given everyone a copy of my house key, so those bitches can let their damn selves in! I'm fucking comfy.

I heard nothing but a bunch of snapping before I opened my eyes which made me want to sit up.
"If y'all are taking pictures, I'm going to kill you," I said, feeling Evelyn shift next to me.
"Oh come on Jim," Matt's voice said. "How can we not? This kid is fucking cute."
I smiled, and brought my left arm up to rub my eyes. "What time is it," I asked, my voice heavy with sleep.
"It's almost going to be 10," Michelle said laughing
I opened my eyes to see Val looking over Evelyn, stroking the side of her face softly.
I turned over and nuzzled Lyn-Lyn's nose with mine, making her eyes flutter open.
"Hey Sleeping Beauty," I said softly, making her smile and blush. Too fucking cute! "Time to get up. Val and Chelle are gonna get you all dressed up, and then we can get going."

Evelyn sat up and rubbed her eyes with her tiny fists, then she opened her mouth real wide and yawned. Val and Michelle started to swoon over her almost immediately after she did this. But who fucking wouldn't?
"Alright guys," I said, turning to Matt and Bri. "Out! Serenity left her bag under the bed before she left. There should be clothes in there."
"Kay!" Was all Val said before I closed the door

"So what happened man," Brian asked me, a look of concern on his face. "I was with Val in Zee's kitchen and when you called, all I fucking heard was screaming and shit."
"Dude, Val was worried," Matt added, running hand through his buzzed hair. "She kept asking if she should call you, or if she should try to stop by or something."
I shook my head, and sighed. "Man, I don't even fucking know how to explain," I mumbled. "It was fucking crazy! I mean, I've never see a little kid puke so damn much! One moment she was fine, then the next, she just jumped up and started crying like somebody fucking hit her. I felt so damn bad."
Matt and Brian exchanged a look of sympathy. Bri shoved his hands in his pockets before breaking our silence. "So why'd she stay here last night," he asked.
"I kind of brought them here," I said, looking at my shoes. "I don't know. We were in Serenity's car, so mine is still at her house. But I don't know. Like I said, I felt bad for both of them. Serenity is so fucking tired dude. Like, she does not sleep unless lil' bit over there is asleep, and from what I saw yesterday, she doesn't get to sleep very often. And today, she had class in the morning and she works 'til fucking 11:30 tonight, so I offered to take care of Evelyn."

Once again, Matt and Brian exchanged a look, but not any kind of sympathetic one, and then they started laughing!
"Damn, dude," Matt said through his laughs. "I know it's a nice gesture and all, but you've kinda got it bad!"
"What," I semi-yelled, a little caught off guard.
"Don't think we haven't noticed bro," Brian teased, punching my arm. "You've been talking about that girl non-stop, man! All the Good Samaritan stuff aside, you fucking like her!"
I blushed heavily and ducked my head when they started laughing harder. "Sons of bitches," I said, starting to laugh.

"Okay boys," Michelle yelled, perhaps warning us to watch our mouths since they were walking in with Evelyn. "We're done! And doesn't she look gorgeous?!"
Evelyn walked in hiding behind Val's leg and covering her mouth with her little hands, wearing a lavender colored, sleeveless shirt with a bright yellow ducky on the front with a flowy purple shirt to match. Her feet were still bare, but Michelle held little silver sandals in her hands.
Syn kneeled down to Evelyn and smiled brightly at her, in attempts to get her out of her little shy act.
"Wow," he cooed. "You're sooo pretty Evelyn! You know, purple is my favorite color?"
Evelyn smiled at him, her eyes grew wide, and brought her hands down to her sides in fists. "Purple is one of my favorite colors too," she said excitedly, bouncing to her tippy toes.
Val bent down to give Evelyn a kiss on her temple, and Michelle did the same and sat by Brian to tickle Evelyn's little stomach while Val came to say goodbye to Matt and I.
"Come on Chelle," Val said. "We don't want to be late again."
"Kay," Michelle said laughing. "See you guys later!" And with that they were gone.

"Well," Matt said quietly. "What are the plans for today?"
"I was kind of hoping Evelyn would tell us where we could go to breakfast," I said lightly, trying not to laugh at how her face brightened up so quickly. "And then we were going to head over to the hospital thing again so I could donate some stem cells for the munchkin."
Evelyn's eyes grew wide again. "W- We're going back," she asked, her lip starting to tremble a little bit.
"Yeah," I said patting her head. "But it's for me this time. I'm going to give the doctor some of my cell thingies so they can grow them and save them for when yours go away. That way you can get better faster."
Evelyn nodded slowly, then wrapped her arms around my leg. "I wanna go to Denny's," she said, making us laugh.
"Okay," Brian chuckled. "I'll drive us there since Jimmy left his car at your house. Then we'll go to the doc's."
___________________________________________________________________________

"Breakfast" turned out to be a bit messier than I intended.
I got some strawberry banana pancakes, with extra bacon, an omelette and a coke.
Matt decided to get the same thing I got with the exception of his blueberry pancakes, and extra eggs, and extra sausage links, Brian got pecan and banana pancakes with potatoes and cheese, toast, sausage, and eggs with a cup of coffee. Evelyn got the works! She asked for peanut butter and banana pancakes with extra syrup, hashbrowns, eggs, bacon, sausage, with a cup of hot chocolate with extra whipped cream. Knowing that she wasn't going to be able to eat it all herself, she then decided that she was going to feed us her food once she was full.

"Jimmy, you has a creamy nose," she squealed with laughter. I had missed her fork when she reached out and ended up with whipped cream and syrup all over my face. Her laughter increased when I went cross eyed trying to reach the cream on my nose with my tongue.
Evelyn laughed for a real long time before sitting back and looking at her sticky hands.
"I'm full," she stated, her cheeks flushed from laughing so hard.
"So am I," I said, smiling at her face spotted with the sticky blueish-purple syrup from Matt's blueberry pancakes.
"I think you're gonna have to roll me out, Lyn-Lyn," Brian said, rubbing his stomach with one hand while he wiped his face with the other.
"I am too," Matt said.

Evelyn looked over to Matt, who was sitting to her right, and pointed at his plate.
"You're the only one that ate all your food," she gasped.
Matt laughed at her reaction and rubbed his stomach. All of us guys can eat a shit load, but Matt can eat the most out of all of us, with me beating him out on occasion.
"I'm a big man Evie," he said. "I have to eat a lot!"
"Gee," she said. "One day you're gonna eat all of Denny's food! Then what are you going to eat?!"
"I can eat you," he laughed.
Evelyn's eyes widened. "No," she screeched, standing up on the booth seat. "Not you too!!"
Lyn-Lyn shoved her hands in Matt's face in attempts to get him away from her, but Matt grabbed her hands and stuck her little fingers in his mouth, pretending to eat them.
"Noooooo," she cried out in laughter. "No Fatty Matty! I need those!"
We all burst out laughing, earning a couple stares from the other customers. From there we got our check, paid, and cleaned our faces and hands in the restroom. We ended up asking one of the waitresses if she could help Evelyn, 'cause there was no way in Hell that I was taking her into the men's bathroom.

On the way to the hospital, we grew a little quieter. I'm not sure why, but I think it was the lingering question of why I was doing this, and how much this shit is going to hurt.
"Hey Bri," I asked, breaking the silence. "Can you turn the radio on?"
"Yeah man," he said, pushing the big button in the middle of the dash.

"Ain't another woman that can take your spot my loooooooooooove"
"HOLY SHIT, BRIAN," Matt yelled. "TURN IT DOWN!"
"AGH! I FORGOT THAT CHELLE HAD AMBER YESTERDAY," Brian yelled reaching for the knob again.
"Can we leave it on," Evelyn asked. "I like this song!"

We all looked at her, and she started singing/screaming the words to the song.
"BECAUSE! I can see us holding hands, Walking on the beach, our toes in the sand. I can see us on the countryside, Sitting on the grass, laying side by side. You could be my baby, let me make you my lady. Girl, you amaze me. Ain't gotta do nothing crazy
See, all I want you to do is be my love
So don't give away My love
So don't give away My love
So don't give away Ain't another woman that can take your spot, my love
So don't give away My love
So don't give away My love
So don't give away Ain't another woman that can take your spot, my love
Ooooh, girl
My love
My love!!"

Just about the entire time she was singing, she was dancing in her spot in the seat. Her little arms going ever which way, her nose scrunched up, her voice didn't go out of rhythm at any time during the song, which had Matt and I exchanging looks. We couldn't stop laughing at her because it was fucking adorable, and she didn't seem to mind the attention at all. It had to be one of the cutest things ever.

Just as the song ended, Brian was pulling into a parking space at the hospital.
"Alright guys," I said. "Y'all ready?"
Evelyn shook her head quickly and grabbed my arm. I looked at her questioningly, but she said nothing to me.
Brian looked down at her. "Don’t worry Evelyn. Jimmy’s done some pretty bad stuff before. This isn’t anything."
"Yippee for me," I laughed.

We walked in and got slammed with a shit load of paperwork since it was a surgical procedure, I would have to be put under an anesthetic and they needed to do a stress test to be sure that my body could handle it what with my heart problem and all. The wait was long as I had hoped even though I was waaaaaaay later than I should have been.
"Mr. Sullivan," a light voiced nurse called.
I sighed before standing up. "Alright then," I mumbled.
Evelyn slid off of her chair, and looked around. "Jimmy," she asked frowning. "Is it gonna hurt you?"
This time I frowned. "I’m not too sure baby girl," I said to her. “But don’t worry. I’m a pretty strong guy.”
"Okay," she said quietly, grabbing my hand.
"Alright," I said. "Let's get this over with."
The nurse led us into a dimly lighted room where there were a bunch of leather bed thingies in a row against two walls, like an actual donation station. We were left there alone for a while until a doctor came in to talk to me about the procedure which was going to take. From there, I was given a hospital gown to change into.

I walked into the bathroom, stripped down, and slipped on the paper thin material, my hands shaking nervously when I heard the doctor tell the guys and Evelyn that they could only be there with me until I was completely out and from there they would be escorted out to a family waiting room. ‘Fuck.’
I walked back out into the room, with my folded clothes and shoes in one hand, while my other hand held the material at the back so that my ass wasn’t hanging out even though Syn had Lyn-Lyn cover her eyes. I was laid out onto my stomach and once a thin white sheet was put over me, Evelyn uncovered her eyes. An IV was placed into my left arm where the anesthesia would be injected, the cold fluids ran through my veins, causing me to shiver.

“Mr. Sullivan,” the doctor said. “I’m going to explain to you once again the procedure at hand. First, once you’re out, we are going to make a small incision so we can dri-,”
“EXCUSE me sir,” I said loudly, cutting him off so that Evelyn wouldn’t hear the task at hand. “I think I know what’s going to happen.”
I directed my attention straight to the little girl who hand her arms tightly around Brian’s neck as he held on to her. The doctor looked over to her and nodded at me.
“Do you want to lay with him until he falls asleep,” one of the nurses asked Evelyn.
Evelyn almost jumped out of Brian’s arms, reaching her own towards me, until she was placed on the hospital bed beside me. The anesthesiologist began to inject the meds through the IV once she finally got settled next me, curling into a little ball and grabbing onto my right hand.
“What’s the matter princess,” I asked her, stroking her little hand.
“Nothing,” she pouted. “I don’t want it to hurt.”
I chuckled at her, touched by her concern. “Don’t worry baby,” I said to her. “I’ll be fine. And once I get better, I can take you and your mommy out on a date. What do you think?”
I felt my eyes roll a little bit once the medicine started taking its toll, maybe more than a bit since Evelyn let out a small whimper.
“I’m okay momma,” I slurred at her, bringing her hand to my lips. “I’m alright. S’just the medicine making me sleepy.”
“Okay,” Evelyn sniffed. Was she fuckin’ crying? Aw man.
I was almost out, only able to open my eyes enough to see Lyn-Lyn’s little face. “You better be the first one I see when I wake up,” I said to her.
“Okay Jimmy,” she said, sniffling again. And I was out like a fucking light.

Notes

Song credit goes to "My Love" (Justin Timberlake cover) by We Came As Romans.
I know the song hadn't come on yet, but I thought it was the perfect moment for it. Haha!

Just so you know, donating bone marrow is a much more complicated procedure than I depicted it to be. It usually takes up to 20-30 hours of an individual's time. About five days leading up to the procedure, the individual will have to undergo daily injections of a medicine called "Filgrastim" which draws the stem cells from the bone marrow so that the individual has more of them circulating through their bloodstream. The reason the procedure takes so long is because the individual must be monitored at the donation center or medical clinic where the donation will take place. Staff will monitor the individual's blood count and stem cell count, along with the body's reaction to the medication being administered. The last injection will have been given on the day of the donation. When donating stem cells, another procedure known as "apheresis" is involved where blood is taken from the body using a catheter that is inserted in one arm and passed through a machine that filters out the stem cells and platelets and white blood cells. The remaining blood is the put back into the body. This procedure usually requires between 2-4 different sessions, each of them within 2-6 hours.