A/N: Okay guys, this is going to be my first attempt at a multi-chapter story, so bear with me. I have no idea why, but I was listening to the song Hospital Flowers by Owl City and this came to mind. Thus the title. Anyway, here goes nothing.

Disclaimer: I do not own Jimmy Neutron, Cindy Vortex, or Hugh Neutron. This is merely to satisfy some sick side of my imagination.

The summer air was warm and muggy, and waves of heat rose from the streets of downtown Retroville. Cindy Vortex was sitting at a table that resided outside of a new cafe that had just opened, sipping an iced tea and creating an outline for an essay-writing contest she was entering. The prompt was, What Act of Kindness Could Change the World? and she was brainstorming ideas. The hot, powerful sun had been bearing down on her for about an hour, and she wiped the sweat from her forehead for the millionth time that day. It had been a mad house at the Candy Bar, and her parents had been fighting again at home, so she decided that out and about in the burning sun was the lesser of three evils, but was quickly regretting that decision. Regardless, she intended to finish this little brainstorming session before returning home and was beginning to seriously consider adding Arresting fighting parents to the list when a chipper, familiar voice interrupted her train of thought.

"Hey there, Vortex. Still trying to best me in the arts, I see." She raised her eyes slowly, mentally willing her suddenly-racing heart to calm, and gave her genius rival a less-than-friendly-could-be-deadly stare.

"I don't have to try, Nerdtron. I'm going to ace this thing. Besides, what do you care? You're not even entering." He leaned against the fence that surrounded her private enclosure (no one else seemed too eager to brave the sun) and smiled at her, his eyes dancing. Her stomach exploded into a million tiny butterflies and she silently cursed herself for the involuntary reaction.

"I find no need to engage in such juvenile antics," he said smoothly and she visibly stiffened. "I'm too busy trying to save the world, I guess. And maybe earn a Nobel Peace Prize in the process."

"That's ridiculous," she snapped. "Though at least I now know I can credit your egotistical personality for the size of that enormous head of yours." Such a cheap shot, yet she never seemed to grow tired of the insult. Before he could respond, she continued with, "Now go away, Fudge Head. I've got some serious brainstorming to do here, and you're distracting me." To make her point, she stared hard at the notebook in front of her, brows furrowed, chin in her hands. He eyed her for a moment, drumming his fingers against the fence, until she looked up at him again. "Hello, earth to Neutron? I told you to leave!"

"With that sort of attitude, you're bound to win the contest," he said with a smirk and she dug her fingernails into the palm of her hand. "Unfortunately for you, I'm waiting for my dad to come pick me up. I said I'd meet him here." He raised an eyebrow as she slammed her notebook into her backpack. "Mind if I sit?"

"I do, actually," she barked and stood. "I take no pleasure in associating with big-headed jerks who insult my intelligence."

"Cindy," he said, his voice a tad gentler. "You know I was teasing you. That's what we do, remember?" At that moment, a familiar blue car pulled up the car and Hugh Neutron stuck his head out the window.

"Well, hey there Jimbo! Let's get a move-on! I promised your mother that if I got home before three, we could watch the four-hour special Flying with Ducks tonight! We don't want to disappoint her!" Jimmy smirked and rolled his eyes as Cindy's narrowed into slits.

"Looks like your ride's here, Neutron. Better get a move-on." He stared at her a moment, the humor in his eyes gone.

"Okay," he finally said, slowly. "Best of luck on your essay, Vortex." He turned and opened the back car door, throwing his own backpack in and jumping in after it. He slammed the door behind him, but before Hugh took off, Jimmy rolled down the window and with a huge grin on his face added, "You'll be needing it."

"Drop dead, Neutron!" she yelled as Hugh hit the gas and they zoomed off in the opposite direction. She followed the car with her eyes, Jimmy's grinning face burned into her memory as her blood boiled. "Jerk," she muttered, taking one last sip of her tea before heading out. She had just placed her hand on the gate's door when a cold shiver went down her spine and the hairs on the back of her neck bristled. For reasons she would never know, her head turned slowly in the direction of the Neutrons' car and the following impact played out in something like slow motion.

She watched, in a daze, as the red pickup headed towards a woman and her child who were waiting on the sidewalk to cross. The driver seemed to realize at the last moment what he was doing, and inexplicably steered the car to the sharp left. Hugh, seeing this all take place, slammed on the brakes. Hard. He had been going at least 45 in his rush to get home, and he didn't stop fast enough. The pickup slammed sideways into the front of their car, and something flew out the front windshield...from this distance, she couldn't tell what it was. The white sedan that had been cruising speedily behind Hugh didn't stop in time either, and made a double-impact into the back end of their car, the force sending both the pickup and the Neutrons' into the sidewalk. Shattering glass and car alarms played together in her head in a horrific cacophony of sound, but her body registered what had just happened before her brain did. Before she knew it, she was running towards the scene at full speed, dropping her bag in the street, screaming his name at the top of her lungs.

"Jimmy!" Traffic slowed around her and people were shouting, and rushing to and from the scene. She cared nothing for her safety and heard somewhere in the back of her mind a car slamming on its breaks...someone shouting at her? She couldn't tell. She didn't care. She didn't take her eyes off of the blue car that held the only person she actually cared about and after what felt like an eternity, reached the driver's side of the car. The back end was smashed, and the door that Jimmy had closed behind him not two minutes ago was dented in the street, but Jimmy wasn't there. A weird cry escaped her throat and she swiveled to the driver's side, where Hugh still sat, blood dribbling from his mouth, his eyes wide in panic. "Mr. Neutron, Mr. Neutron, where's Jimmy?" she practically screamed and he wheezed, clearly in pain.

"Find him," he whispered, tears springing from his eyes and down his face. He wasn't taking his eyes off of the road in front of him and she followed his gaze. No less than ten feet in front of her was a pile of something red and blue in color and...

"No," she whispered and she ran to the crumpled mess in the street that strongly resembled a human's form. A small cry escaped her throat as she approached as sudden realization hit her: the thing that had been ejected from the car was Jimmy. And he wasn't moving.

She fell to her knees and reached for him then recoiled, suddenly terrified she was going to make things worse. Even in her frazzled state, she knew she wasn't supposed to move him, she could make it worse, she could...she could...

"Jimmy?" she whispered and a gargled cough sounded from beneath her. Hope sprang ironically in her heart and she bit her lip, moving from his backside to where the cough had sounded. He was laying at an odd angle on his stomach, his body twisted in the wrong direction. Praying silently to whoever might be listening, she reached out slowly and pushed the hair from his face. It was drenched in blood and she clamped her mouth shut to keep from screaming. Scarlet streams of blood flowed freely from an open gash on his forehead, down his face and onto his arms. The arms themselves were scraped horribly with road rash, full of dirt and pebbles and it was then she noticed that he must have skidded when he was thrown through the windshield. A small trail of red that glistened in the burning sun confirmed her suspicions, but when she looked at him again, his eyes were open.

He was looking at her, eyes wide and terror-filled. He opened his mouth, to speak probably, but blood came out instead and he let out another gargling gasp and wheezed into the street. Panic was welling in her chest at the sight of him, and sobs threatened to come forth at any moment. She inhaled sharply, desperately trying to figure out what had just happened and how she was going to fix this, and forced herself to look at him, to press her hand to the bleeding wound on his head and start whispering softly to him.

"Don't try to talk, Jimmy, you're really hurt," she managed, and he tried to move instead. His body shuddered and he collapsed again, shaking uncontrollably.

"I can't...I can't...breathe," he rasped and it was then she heard the sirens in the distance.

"Just a little longer, okay? Help is coming," she offered, disgusted with how shallow her words sounded. She started praying again, trying to hide her fear, suddenly remembering what she had just told him. I didn't mean it, I swear I didn't mean it. Don't you dare die on me, Jimmy. Please don't die.

The smoldering asphalt was starting to burn her exposed shins, but she wasn't really feeling it. She had started to go numb as soon as she found him, and stayed that way when the paramedics came rushing in and scooped him from her protective grasp, shouting instructions at each other, strapping him to a gurney and rushing him to the ambulance in hopes of saving his life. She somehow found herself in the back of the vehicle with him, watching in detached horror as they hooked him up to all sorts of devices. She clearly heard the warnings they gave each other if this or that happened and watched in dismay when they took him away from her, rushing him off to the emergency room. She then found herself being dragged away, asking how she had hurt herself and she stared on in confusion. "I'm not hurt," she said and then she noticed the weird look the paramedic was giving her, so she looked down and finally realized she was covered in blood.

His blood.

Tears blurred her vision and gave way to the sobs she had tried so hard to suppress. Cindy Vortex never cried. Cindy Vortex was strong, level-headed. Nothing got in her way, and nothing scared her. She was fearless. Powerful.

But when it came to all of that, Cindy Vortex no longer cared.