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It all happened so fast.
Ally was just watching Jackson intently as she usually did, a smile on her face, in awe of the performance that he was putting on, when all of a sudden, it all went downhill.
He was about halfway through, doing everything that he usually did, when suddenly, he slipped and fell.
Now, falling wasn’t an unusual thing in their profession of performing by any means, even if they practiced countless times to try and prevent it the best that they could, but usually, when it happened, you were able to get up and brush it off. Maybe it would garner a few laughs from the audience. But it was usually forgotten once the singing started again.
Jackson didn’t get up, though. He tried, but he let out a groan of pain, and immediately people came rushing on the stage to make sure that he was alright, and to see just what had happened.
She had tried to rush over as well, but she was pushed back. She heard them saying something about his ankle.
The audience was calling out, security was telling them that Jackson had to be taken away to the hospital.
Jackson didn’t really care at this point, the shooting pain in his ankle was almost too much to bear. He tried not to make it obvious that he was suffering, but it was all too apparent.
Ally followed close behind the commotion, despite everyone telling her to stay back.
“I’m his wife.” She had said. “I’m allowed to see him and make sure that he’s alright.” She didn’t want to hear what else could possibly be said, just followed her husband into the ambulance.
She knew that he would be alright, she was just scared for him and wanted to make sure that he was getting where he needed to go okay. It was just what she felt in her gut. It wouldn’t feel right just standing behind. He was the one who had freaked out over her hand swelling, after all.
He was okay, just in a lot of pain. He kept trying to mask it, but it wasn’t really working. He couldn’t even try and move himself in the slightest without feeling like someone was stabbing him right in the ankle.
They had plans after the show, too. It was Christmas Eve, which made this suck even more. After the show, they were going to go home and watch cheesy Christmas movies all night, while anxious to open each other’s gifts. They always cracked and opened one thing. Ever since they had been married, this was their routine.
But now, they were heading towards the hospital. All was hoping it was a simple sprain, something that could be nursed at home, but it wasn’t looking like that at all.
“It’ll be okay.” She assured him.
He smiled at her weakly, as much as he could through the pain. She smiled back.
XX
Turns out, he had somehow managed to break several of the bones in his ankle. This meant that not only would he would have to stay at least overnight, he wouldn’t be able to use that ankle for a bit. That meant no performing, no anything. He was going to have a cast, which he already had on.
“How are you doing?” Ally asked as she entered his room. His casted leg was elevated, and he looked a sickly pale. She wasn’t allowed to be there while they were operating on him, so she had waited patiently in the waiting room, flipping through magazines, not reading a single word of them, only using them to pass the time.
“This feels weird.” Was all he said in response, chuckling.
She giggled, moving over to his bedside. “I know, it sucks that you can’t play any shows for awhile.”
“I’m still going to find a fuckin’ way to play with the cast on. They won’t stop me.”
“Why can I see that?” She said, laughing as she said the words. “You up there, still finding a way to play with a broken ankle. I can see it all now.”
“The people come to see me sing. They won’t care if I have a cast on.”
“As long as you’re staying safe and not putting pressure on it. Then you’ll have to keep it on longer.”
“You sound like one of them. I want to leave already.”
“I just want you to be alright.”
“And what about Christmas? Christmas Eve? Don’t they know you’ll freak out without your movies?”
“I’ll be fine. You need rest, so get rest. I can stay here with you.”
“I don’t want you to have to stay behind because of me. Go home, order a pizza, watch some movies. You won’t have to worry about me. Plus, why would you want to stay here anyways?”
“Because you’re here, Jack. That’s why. Look, they said 24-48 hours depending on how you start to heal.”
“I would get stuck in here on the damn holidays. You know, I never really gave a shit about them until I met you. My family life wasn’t the most pleasant thing, we sure as hell didn’t even do half the things that I do with you.”
She couldn’t imagine what something like that was like. For her, the holidays were a bustling time, full of energy, love, and activity. She was glad that she could give Jackson even the slightest inkling of what that felt like, even if it was a little late. “Well, it’ll be fine. We can do our things after, there’s no law that we have to do everything on the exact day.” She smiled warmly at him.
“I just don’t want to be here if you don’t want to be.”
“Of course I do. You know, I think you’re the one that is angry about being here and would rather be home, you miss our traditions huh?” She joked.
He chuckled lightly. “Yeah, you’re right.”
It became apparent to her that he was starting fall asleep, since the conversation was dwindling, and his eyes were fluttering shut.
She smiled at him. Once she heart his gentle snores, she slipped out. Visitation hours weren’t closed yet, and she had a plan.
XX
The dollar store cashier was surprised to see Ally in the store, especially buying one hundred dollars worth of decorations.
“What’s this for? A show?” The woman asked as she scanned it all.
“Hm, something like that.” She said, smiling. The truth was, this was the closest place, and she had to get back to the hospital in time. The quality of things didn’t matter, anyways, right? It was the thought.
She raced to her car, bags in hand, and drove off as fast as she possibly could.
Back at the hospital, Jackson was luckily still asleep. So, she began her work, the sound of his snores and the TV buzzing in the background.
A few hours later, she looked at what she had done. She had went to the store and bought some simple decorations, and decided to give his room some Christmas spirit. It was cheesy, she knew that. And Jackson wanted to talk about how he thought he was ruining her Christmas, she didn’t want to ruin his either. So she brought it to him.
She changed the TV station to the Hallmark channel, and waited not so patiently for her husband to wake up.
“What the hell?” He asked aloud as he opened his eyes, glancing around. The tv playing movies, all of the decorations, how had Ally done this?
“You like it? Merry Christmas.” She said, leaning over his bed and kissing him. “You wanted to say that it would be ruining the holidays if we couldn’t spend the day together, so here we are.”
“How the fuck-“
“The dollar store is very good for last minute decorating, I have to say.”
“Dollar store? I’m guessing you spent around fifty dollars just on this stuff, though.”
“One hundred. And yeah, they had just what I needed to bring Christmas to you.”
“I never thought that you could get any cuter. Guess you went and proved me wrong. Come here, I wanna kiss you again.”
She smiled and walked over to him, leaning over the bed so that they could lock lips again.
“I’m glad you like it.”
“I love it. Guess we really did get to celebrate Christmas after all.”
“Yeah, I even have the movies on.”
He smiled at her. They sat watching what was on the screen for a few moments, and when it got to commercial break, Ally commented “You know, these movies remind me a lot of us.”
“They do?” Her husband asked, cocking a brow.
“They do. Our life just… feels like a movie sometimes. Like, it doesn’t feel real.”
“Well, whoever is writing the script must fucking hate us.”
“I meant it in the way that I can’t believe I got so lucky to find you. But, you’re right, why would they make you hurt yourself during a time like this?”
“I’m kiddin’. I’m lucky to have you too. And I guess they wanted you to do this for me, they knew that it would make your night.”
She felt herself blush. “I love you, Jackson.”
“I love you too.”
Maybe this wasn’t the best of circumstances, but it was still a beautiful and wonderful thing that they wouldn’t complain about.