Title: A Friend In Need

Author: Rosie

E-mail: [email protected]

Rating: PG-13

Category: J/H

Disclaimer: I don’t own any of them, you know the rest!

Summary: Ham still doesn’t know Jake’s a girl. . . yet!

Author’s Note: To all of my fans who know that J/H will live forever in our hearts!

It had been almost a week since Jake had kissed Hamilton on the rooftop. Since then, she had been avoiding him. And it wasn’t like he was making any attempt to look for her. She missed her friend yet she couldn’t bring herself to tell him the truth, even though he deserved to know. She didn't want to be rejected, not by him. It had been hard what with the fact that she and her mother weren’t seeing eye to eye but now, she couldn’t even spend time with Hamilton. Not only that, lately she hadn’t been feeling like herself. She hadn’t felt like eating, she had been running a fever on and off and she’d been very tired. It was hard trying to go to classes and pay attention, especially with Hamilton there. One day, after Finn’s class. . .

Hamilton: “Hey Jake wait up, please”, he ran to catch up to her.

Jake: “What’s up?”

Hamilton: “Can we talk?” “In your room.”

Jake: “Sure”, she sayed wearily.

Cut to Jake’s room.

Jake: “So what do you want to talk about?”

Hamilton: “I want the truth Jake.” “Ever since you kissed me, I can’t stop thinking of you.” “I’m having so many doubts about myself.” “I can’t sleep and I want it all to stop.” “I want my life back to normal.” “Why did you kiss me?”

Jake: “Are we back to that again”, she replied sarcastically. “Look man, I told you I was caught up in the moment.” “And I told you that it wouldn’t happen again.” “Have I not kept my promise?” “I thought we were past this.” “I thought we were friends.”

Hamilton: “We are it’s just, that’s not a good enough excuse anymore Jake.”

Jake: “What do you want from me”, she sayed her voice quickly rising.

Hamilton: “I want the truth!”, his voice rising as well.

Jake: “Hamilton please just drop it!”

Hamilton: “I can’t.” “What’s your secret?” “What are you hiding?”

Jake: “I’m a girl ok!” “Are you happy?” “Is that what you want to hear?”

Hamilton: “What are you talking about?”

Jake already mad at him for making her confess stripped down to her bra. Hamilton just stared dumbfounded. Eventually he got up and walked out of the room.

Jake (thinking): Great, just great. Not only have I totally lost him, I feel like crap. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. And I can’t risk going to the school nurse. She might find out and then I’ll get kicked out. God I have this splitting headache. She took some tylenol, got under her covers, and cried herself to sleep. Around 4 in the morning Hamilton was still awake in his bed. He had done a lot of thinking and decided he had to talk to Jake, even though he, she was still sleeping. He got dressed and headed towards her room. Meanwhile, Jake was awakened by some noise outside her window. She got up and decided to go wash her face. She was definitely not feeling good. There was a knock at her door and she went to answer it. It was Hamilton.

Hamilton: “Can we talk?”

Jake: “Yeah, let me just go wash my face.”

Hamilton just noticing Jake’s face asked,

Hamilton: “You’re not looking so hot, are you feeling alright?”

Jake: “I’ll be fine.”

Jake went to the bathroom and washed her face. She looked at herself in the mirror. She was definitely not fine. She felt weak all of a sudden. She reached for her face cloth, let out a moan, and fell to the floor. Hamilton, hearing the moan ran to the bathroom and found Jake on the ground.

Hamilton: “Jake, what’s wrong?” “Wake up please.” He was genuinly concerned for his friend. He managed to drag Jake to her bed. He started fanning her. Her eyes fluttered open.

Hamilton: “Jake what’s wrong?” “What are you feeling?”

Jake: “I’m so very dizzy.” “I feel hot and my body hurts all over.”

Hamilton: “I’m taking you to the nurse Jake.”

Jake: “No Ham, please, she can’t find out about me or they’ll kick me out please.”

Hamilton: “Jake, you’re sick.” “You need a doctor.”

Jake: “Hamilton please”, she stared at him with pleading eyes.

Hamilton: “Fine but I’m taking you to a doctor off campus right now.”

Jake: “Fine.”

Hamilton: “I’m going to go get my mom’s car.” “You stay here.” “I’ll be back for you.” “Try to hold on.”

She was falling in and out of consciousness. He quickly went to get the car. He parked outside and ran back up to get Jake. He had called the hospital and they knew that they were on the way. He had to carry Jake to the car. He layed her in the backseat and rushed to the hospital. Jake was wearing nothing but some flannels and a tank top. She had taken off her binder. She was definitely a girl. On the way all Hamilton could think about was Jake. This is all my fault. If something happens to her I’ll never forgive myself. How could I have been so blind? I can’t lose her now, I love her. He reached the hospital. He carried her in. They had him wait outside. 2 hours later. . .

Doctor: “Hamilton, you can see her now.”

Hamilton: “Is she ok?”

Doctor: “Well your friend has been very sick for awhile. She has a virus in her system. We took some blood to confirm it. Her platelets are down. She hasn’t been eating which is a result of the virus. Her body aches and she has been running a fever which is also all due to the virus in her system. Now we’ve given her some tylenol but there’s not much more we can do for her. The only way to get rid of a virus is to flush it out of her system. You have to give her lots of liquids. And you have to force her to eat. She needs the protein. It’s why she fainted. Have patience with her. She’ll probably be very cranky because of the ache throughout her body. If you do what I’ve told you, she should start to feel better within a week.

Hamilton: “Thanks doc.”

Doctor: “Good luck.” “She’s got a lot of spunk..”

Hamilton: “Tell me about it.”

Cut to Jake’s hospital room. Hamilton sits down next to her. She’s sleeping. He holds her hand. After awhile, she wakes up.

Jake: “Hey.”

Hamilton: “Hey, how are you feeling?”

Jake: “Tired.” “I feel like my body has been in a blender.”

Hamilton: “The doc says you’ll be feeling better after a week.” “In the meantime you need to eat and you need plenty of liquids.” “I’m going to take care of you Jake, don’t worry.”

Jake: “Hamilton, you don’t need to.”

Hamilton: “I know, but I want to.” “Jake, I’m sorry about everything.” “I’m sorry I freaked out like that.” “Friends?”

Jake: “Yeah.”

When they got back, he tucked her in bed, made a bed on the floor and stayed with her the night. She protested but he finally convinced her. He had told his mother that he would be staying with a friend. All week he had given her her painkillers, juice every 2 hours, made sure she ate, despite her protests and checked her temp. constantly. He got her her homework and despite her moodiness, he never left her side. A week later. . . Jake heard a knock at her door. It was Hamilton.

Hamilton: “I came by to see how you were feeling?”

Jake: “Much better actually, thanks.”

Hamilton: “Good cuz I have a surprise for you.”

Jake: “Ham you shouldn’t have.”

Hamilton: “I know, come on.”

As soon as they got in the car, he blindfolded her. When they arrived, he led her in to the shop. He then took her blindfold off. They were in an old fashion icecream shop.

Jake: “Hamilton, what are we doing here?”

Hamilton: “You said that you were craving icecream this whole week so I figured I’d take you out for some when you got better.”

Jake: “You’re too much.” “Why have you been so good to me?”

Hamilton: “Do I need a reason to be nice to my best friend?” “Anyway, mint chocolate chip, two scoops right?”

Jake: “Yeah, Hamilton?”

Hamilton: “I love you.” “That’s all”, with that he got up to place the orders leaving Jake stunned but happy. When he came back with their icecreams, Jake was smiling at him.

Hamilton: “What?”

Jake: “I love you too.”

With that, he reached over and held her hand. They stayed like that, eating their icecream in silence, never once taking their eyes off each other.

The End