Shrek sighed heavily as he stared at the empty room where his triplets would be playing. It was too quiet since Fiona left him and took the kids with her. He grunted as managed to turn his wheelchair around, but gave up and just sat there, staring at the lifeless interior. Jimmy quietly padded over to Shrek and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Don't sneak up on me like that kid!" Shrek snapped in surprise. "Sorry." Jimmy apologized as he wheeled Shrek into the living room.
"I've been working on this new prototype exo-suit-"Jimmy began to say but was interrupted. "Save your fancy science talk for later, I don't want to hear it right now." Shrek said irritably. "But don't you want to at least see what I've been working on?" Jimmy asked in disbelief, a hint of desperation in his voice. "Later." Shrek said as he stared sadly at a family portrait on the wall. Jimmy huffed and locked the wheels of Shrek's chair, so he wouldn't roll anywhere and hurt himself again.
It wasn't fair, after all he has done, Shrek still didn't want to try. He had simply given up. Jimmy went back to working on his project, fuming that Shrek wouldn't so much as look at the progress he had made. With the time he put into various inventions to try to give Shrek back some mobility and freedom, he could have made progress on getting home maybe. Jimmy worried about his parents and friends, spent many nights wondering if they were okay and what they were up to. He hoped Goddard was being looked after and hopefully working on a solution on bringing him back.
"Could you fetch me a glass of water lad?" Shrek asked, not bothering to look in his direction. Jimmy wordlessly poured water into a glass and carefully handed it to him before going back to work. "Thanks." Mumbled Shrek. It had been a long grueling six months since Jimmy had found his way into Shrek's life. Jimmy was more than ready to return home to Retroville. He was tired of the filthy ignorant people that made fun of him for trying to better their lives. Tired of Shrek's hopelessness. The time he spent working on anything other than getting home felt like a waste now and he was still working on a simple exoskeleton to maybe help Shrek walk again. The sheer nerve of him to not even look at the progress he had made. Jimmy threw down his screw driver in frustration.
"Jimmy when's dinner gonna be ready?" Shrek asked. Jimmy clenched his fists and growled, "It will be ready when its ready!" "Hey, no need to be like that!" Shrek said with a wince. Jimmy ignored him and stomped outside, muttering obscenities about the Shrek and the swamp. It was hard to even get to where he was with all the technological setbacks. He had to work with the blacksmith for months and even then, it was hard to convey the concepts and ideas.
"Jimmy!" Shrek called again only to be met with silence. "Where are ya boy?!" Shrek shouted, almost desperately. "JIMMY!" He shouted fearfully, wondering if he had been abandoned completely. Silent salty tears streamed down his face as he struggled to unlatch the brakes to his wheel chair. "Jimmy…" He sobbed quietly as he desperately strained to propel himself towards the open window. Was it because he was so needy? "Jimmy." He said, his voice barely above a whisper.
"I'm right here, Shrek." Jimmy said with thinly veiled irritation. "I'm right here." He said more gently as he tried to walk by Shrek, who pulled him into his lap. "Shrek!" Jimmy shrieked in protest, wriggling out of his grasp. "I'm trying to make you dinner." Jimmy muttered as he set the root vegetables on the table, brushing himself off. He set to work prepping the vegetables. Once finished with that he could move on to the actual cooking part. Jimmy put a pat of butter in a large stock pot on the cooking spit. It sizzled up nicely. Then he added the onions, sweating them before adding the garlic. He waited a minute, sautéing them until nicely fragrant. Jimmy quickly added the rest of the veggies and stirred them around. He soon realized his mistake when he looked over at the nice hot bubbling stock next to the pot with the veggies. The stress was really getting to him.
"Jimmy! I need ya boy!" Shrek shouted urgently, startling Jimmy. Jimmy huffed and slammed down the stirring stick and stomped over to Shrek. "What is it now?" Jimmy demanded. Shrek's ears lowered as he hung his head in shame. "You're too late my boy." He said quietly. Jimmy roughly wheeled Shrek into his room and closed the door. He could take care of this himself occasionally, he wasn't a helpless baby like he made himself out to be sometimes. Jimmy ignored the pained cries coming from the other side of the door and rushed outside, vomiting just outside of the doorway. He really could just walk away from all this and focus his energies on finding his way back home.
After a few minutes Jimmy rushes back in and throws open Shrek's door, only to find him laying on the floor, his wheelchair on its side. His soiled shorts pulled partway down his thighs as his mess was on the floor, himself and the wheelchair. Jimmy steeled himself and helped Shrek onto the bed and began to clean him up and the mess. He ended up bathing him and scrubbing the floor, while Shrek sobbed inconsolably the whole time. Jimmy wanted to leave but he couldn't find it in himself to leave Shrek all alone.