Jessica's POV
After being on the air for five seasons, the guys are always trying to top themselves. They're always looking for bigger and better challenges, and more elaborate punishments. Their finales were no exception.
To celebrate their 100th episode, each of the guys walked across a tightrope, that was six stories high. The Joker who made it the farthest would receive $50,000 for the charity of their choice. Brian, proudly wearing his FDNY shirt, made it all the way across. He donated the money to the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation, which is an FDNY based charity that provides services for military personnel and first responders. I loved that special, but not just because I was so proud of Brian. As a fan, I felt like the guys were pushing the envelope, without going too far outside the realm of the show.
That being said, I felt the complete opposite about Nitro Circus, the finale for season 5. When I first heard the concept, I just didn't get it. I didn't think that it fits with the vibe of their show. It didn't make any sense to me. I was hanging out with Brian and Sal when I first heard the idea.
"It's a live show. These professionals will be doing all these crazy stunts to entertain the crowd. Then we'll be going through an obstacle course with ATVs and motorcycles. The person who does it in the fastest time will get $100,000 for their charity," Sal explained.
"But... why? Is that even safe?" I asked.
I wasn't just concerned for the safety of my boyfriend, but for the other guys' safety as well. The guys always treated me like part of the family. I loved all of them like brothers, and I would never want anything to happen to any of them.
"We're getting trained beforehand, so we'll have some practice before the live show. You have nothing to worry about," Brian said, trying to reassure me, But I wasn't convinced.
"Still... you guys aren't professionals. Don't you think it's dangerous?" I asked them.
"I don't think the network would give us anything we can't handle. We'll get trained enough so that we don't injure ourselves out there," Sal told me.
"I'm sorry, I just don't understand why you guys would do something like this. It just seems too risky to me. And doesn't it clash with the whole purpose of your show?" I asked them.
"To be honest, we weren't too thrilled about the idea when we first heard it either. It was the network's idea, and they convinced us that the crossover would benefit both shows," Brian explained.
"I'm just worried about you. All of you. I don't want you guys to get hurt," I told them both.
Brian knew how concerned I was, so he wrapped his arms around me, and pulled me close to him. He was trying to reassure me, but it wasn't working.
"Jess, you have nothing to worry about. We'll be fine," he tried to tell me.
"He's right, Jess. Plus, didn't you see this guy walk the high wire? He's a pro," Sal said, trying to lighten the mood.
"I just don't want you guys to do anything stupid," I told them.
"Have you seen our show? The whole thing is pretty stupid," Sal said, sarcastically.
"Well...this might just be the stupidest thing you guys have ever done," I proclaimed.
-----
When Brian and I went to bed that night, he could tell that I was still anxious about the whole thing.
"Babe, you don't have to worry about me. I'll be fine. I was a firefighter once, you know," he told me.
"Wait. YOU were a fireman? I don't think you've ever mentioned that before," I said, sarcastically.
"Seriously, though, I'm going to be okay. We're going to practice. And I don't think TruTV would agree to anything that would put us in actual danger," he told me.
"I still don't like it," I stated.
"To be honest with you, I'm not too thrilled about it either," Brian admitted, "But I'm doing it for my favorite charity."
"I know how much that means to you."
"Giving back means a lot, and $100,000 is a lot of money. It's the only reason why I would agree to do anything like this. It might be a little dangerous, but I've been in dangerous situations before. I can handle it," he told me.
I know that Brian was trying his hardest to reassure me, but it wasn't helping. There was nothing he could say to get me to stop worrying about him. I love him, how could I not be concerned for his well-being?
"Well, I'll be there rooting for you, but I'm still going to be worried," I confessed.
"You'll see, I'll win that money, and make you proud," he proclaimed.
"You don't have to win an obstacle course, or even $100,000 to make me proud of you. I'm already proud of what you've done, and what you guys do every single day. It doesn't matter if you win the money, you're already a superhero to me," I told him.
"Thanks, Jess. I love you," he told me, as he gave me a gentle, reassuring kiss on the forehead.
"I love you too, but don't do anything stupid out there," I told him.
There was no point in arguing about it. The boys had already made up their mind and agreed to do this show. All I could do now was sit back, and hope that nothing would go wrong.
-----
A few weeks later, the guys went away for a couple of days to train for the Nitro Circus Spectacular. I was getting used to being away from Brian at times, but I still missed him. But more than me missing him, I was worried about him, or any of the other guys, getting hurt. Brian was constantly trying to reassure me that everything would be okay. He even made jokes that the worst thing that would happen is Joe collapsing, since he's so out of shape. I was constantly told that I was just worrier. Maybe I was being overly dramatic, but something in my gut told me that this whole thing wasn't right.
I went to work, hoping that it would keep my mind off worrying about Brian. I was getting calls and texts from the guys throughout the past few days. They were trying to keep me calm. Since I was keeping myself busy at work, I didn't have my phone on me the entire time. But when I did happen to look over at it, I saw three missed calls from Sal, and a text that read:
Call me right now. It's important.
When I read this message, my heart dropped. I immediately called Sal back. But the few seconds he took to pick up, felt like an eternity I knew something had to be wrong. I had a million things running through my mind. Was Brian hurt? Was one of the other guys hurt? How serious was it?
"Jessica?" Sal answered.
"Sal, what happened?" I asked him.
"Well... Brian had a little mishap with an ATV..."
"What do you mean a 'mishap'? What happened? Is he okay?" I asked.
I went into panic mode, speaking so frantically that I was probably barely understandable. But Sal was trying to calm me down.
"The ATV flipped over onto him, and he was stuck underneath it for a few seconds while they tried to get it off him. The doctors think he might've broken his ribs. But he got up and walked after, which is a good sign," Sal explained.
"Oh my god. Where is he now?" I asked him.
"I'm at the hospital with him, but he's getting X-rays and tests done at the moment," Sal told me.
"Text me which hospital you're at. I'm on my way," I told him, and I quickly hung up.
I frantically grabbed all my things, probably looking like a psycho to all my coworkers. They all looked concerned, so I briefly explained that I had an emergency, and that I needed to leave. I headed out the door, making my way to the hospital as quickly as humanly possible.
-----
When I arrived at the hospital, I saw Sal in the waiting area, and he led me to Brian's room. Brian was lying there in the bed, and he looked like he was in a lot of pain. He had bruises all over his neck, and his lower body was wrapped in bandages.
"Jess, is that you?" he asked, sounding a little disoriented.
I ran over to him, grabbing his hand. I wanted so badly to hug him, and let him know that I was there for him. But I was scared of hurting him.
"Yes, baby. I'm here. How are you feeling?" I asked him.
"Oh, me? I'm fine," he tried to tell me.
"Don't lie to me, Brian. You wouldn't be in a hospital bed right now If you were fine," I insisted.
"Okay, okay. I feel like I just got hit by a bus," he admitted.
"This is why the network should cancel this whole thing. If you needed any more evidence that this was dangerous, look no further," I said, pointing to Brian laying there in the hospital bed.
"Jess, I talked to Simmy. They can't cancel it now. They've already made the obstacle course, booked the venue, and sold the tickets. Plus, we signed the contract. There's no backing out of it now," Sal tried to explain to me.
Simmy is the executive producer of Impractical Jokers. He's the person responsible for going along with this idea, which means that Simmy is now on my shit list.
"Well, this was a dumb idea in the first place. This is not what you guys do. You're 40-year-old men who embarrass each other in public. You're not stuntmen, and this is not Jackass," I told them. This time, I wasn't holding anything back.
"I'm sorry, Jess. But there's nothing we can do about it. It's what the network wants," Sal tried to tell me.
"Well, you guys should have more control over your own TV show. TruTV would be nothing without the four of you," I asserted.
"It doesn't matter, Jess. It's too late. We're in too deep at this point," Sal told me. I knew he was right, but that didn't minimize my anger.
"How are they going to do this without you?" I asked Brian.
"Maybe we can get someone else to replace him," Sal suggested.
"I would do it for you," I volunteered.
"Absolutely NOT," Brian said immediately.
"Why not?" I asked.
"Jessica, I am TWICE your size, and the damn ATV almost crushed me. There's no way in hell I'm letting you go out there," Brian said.
"Wait. Are you saying its dangerous?" I asked, sarcastically.
It was ironic that Brian was now claiming this would be too dangerous for me. Meanwhile, he had spent the past few weeks when he was trying to convince me that everything was safe.
"Okay, fine. You were right," Brian admitted.
"So who do you think should replace him?" I asked Sal.
"Maybe we can get one of our wrestler friends to do it," Brian suggested.
As huge WWE fans, Brian and Sal had become friendly with a few wrestlers through Twitter. But that idea didn't really seem fair to the other three guys.
"Do you really think it's fair to have a professional athlete compete for you?" Sal asked.
"You know, what? Forget all this replacement talk. I'll be fine," Brian claimed.
"Brian, what are you talking about? You are NOT going out there," I insisted.
"Jess, I already feel better than I did a few hours ago," Brian tried to tell me. He started to try to get out of the bed, but he was clearly still in pain.
"Brian, lay down. I don't care if you feel better. You've already injured yourself, and if you try to go out there you might cause serious and irreparable damage to your body," I told him.
"So, you're telling me what to do now?" he asked, suddenly getting defensive.
"Yes, I am. After what happened to you today, I am putting my foot down. You CANNOT go out there," I asserted.
"What are you, my mother now?" He asked.
I didn't understand why he was getting offended, and felt the need to make a petty little comment like that. But if he wanted to play that game, I'd play. His little comment gave me an idea, so I reached for my phone and started dialing.
"Okay, fine. You want to play it like that? I can be petty too," I told him.
"What are you doing?" he asked, as the phone began ringing.
"Shhh... I'm on the phone," I said, making the shushing gesture.
I knew I was aggravating him. But, truthfully, I was kind of enjoying it. He was being so stubborn, and since I wasn't getting through to him I found someone who could. After a few rings, his mother picked up.
"Hello?" she answered.
"Hi Carol, this is Jessica," I said, flashing Brian an evil grin.
"Are you seriously calling my mother right now?" he asked, in complete disbelief.
He tried to grab the phone out of my hand, but I pulled away. I went over to the other side of the room. He couldn't follow me, because he was stuck lying in the bed, still in a fair amount pain.
"Hi, Jessica. How are you? Is everything alright?" she asked. She must've known something was wrong since it's very rare that I call her on my own.
"Actually, no. I'm not sure if Brian told you about this Nitro Circus thing they guys are doing," I started to tell her, but she had already heard all about it.
"Yes, dear. I've heard. Quite frankly, I think it's a dumb idea," she told me. Glad we could agree on that.
"I know. Isn't it STUPID?" I said, loud enough so Brian could hear. He just rolled his eyes at me.
"So what happened?" she asked me.
"Well, they were practicing using ATVs, and one of them flipped over onto Brian. I'm in the hospital with him now. He got hurt pretty badly, but he still wants to go through with the show," I told her.
"This is ridiculous. You're telling my mother on me? What are you, 12 years old?" Brian asked.
"That's crazy. He can't do that. He's going to hurt himself even more," she said. Isn't it amazing that everyone came to this conclusion except for Brian?
"I know, that's what I've been telling him. But he doesn't listen to me, and he was being kind of rude about it. I was hoping you could talk some sense into him," I requested.
"Oh, that's not nice. But of course, I'll talk to him, dear. Please put him on the phone," she instructed.
"Thanks, Carol."
I gave Brian a huge grin, and he just rolled his eyes at me again. I handed him the phone, but he didn't want to accept it at first.
"This is ridiculous," he told me.
"TALK TO YOUR MOTHER," I demanded.
Brian finally agreed, and begrudgingly took the phone. He didn't put the phone on speaker, so I could only hear one side of the conversation.
"Hi, mom. I'm okay. Yes, I got injured. Yes, I was a little rude to her. I know she's only trying to help, but... Yes, of course, I love her. Okay. No, you're right... I'm sorry. I love you too. Bye, mom," he said, and then hung up the phone.
I just stood there with this huge grin on my face, proud of what I had done. I didn't care how I got through to him. I just knew that it needed to be done, one way or another. I didn't care if he thought calling his mother was crossing a line.
"I have to say, calling my mother was ruthless, but I kind of respect it. Well played," he admitted.
"What did she have to say?" I asked him.
"Pretty much the same thing you, and everyone else, has been telling me."
"It's because we all care about you, Brian. I love you, and I don't want you to go out there and hurt yourself any more than you already have."
"Ok, fine. I won't compete out there. You've won. Are you happy?"
"Yes, Brian. I'm ecstatic that an ATV flipped onto you and crushed your ribcage," I said, the heavy sarcasm evident in my voice.
No matter what it took, I was relieved that Brian finally listened to what I was telling him. It probably wasn't safe for him to be out there practicing in the first place, but it certainly wasn't safe for him to compete now. I didn't know how they were going to pull off this finale, but let's just say I was NOT looking forward to it.
A/N: So I hated using that gif because watching it always makes me cringe. But, it made sense for this chapter. I have such a deep hatred for Nitro Circus, which was the inspiration for this chapter. If you haven't seen it yet, DON'T. It's terrible. But I enjoyed writing this chapter, as well as the next few, because I was able to let out some of my anger about the Nitro Circus situation.