Skinny Love (Jesse Pinkman)

Chapter 15

'But tonight, I need you to save me, I'm so close to breaking I see a light, I am standing on the edge of my life.' - Tonight Alive, The Edge

"I'm going out there." Jesse announced. The night had been long and sweaty- my thirst reaching the point of me now being positive I knew what it was like to suck off the sandman.

"You'll die within the hour." Mr White exclaimed, looking back at Jesse who had began to stumble away.

"Your body is running extremely low on electrolytes. Sodium, potassium, calcium.. and when they're gone your brain ceases to communicate with your muscles. Your lungs stop breathing your heart stops pumping.. you go marching out there and you'll be dead. Mark my words." Mr White exclaimed.

"WELL- YOU, YOU'LL HAVE TO CUT OUT THIS CRYBABY LOSER CRAP AND START THINKING OF SOMETHING A LITTLE SCIENTIFIC! YOUR SMART, RIGHT? YOU MADE POISON OUT OF BEANS YO!" Jesse fumed.

"Jesse shut up-" I groaned, holding my thumping head in my hands.

"We wouldn't even be in this mess if your old piece of shit didn't break down bitch so don't tell me to shut up-" he pointed at me.

"T-This is my fault?!" I spat in disbelief.

"Yeah. Y-O-R. YOUR fault. Bitch." He jabbed his finger in my direction as I felt the anger boil up deep from my stomach.

My shriek hurt my own ears. I couldn't remember being this angry in all my life- not ever.

"CALM DOWN!" Mr White ordered, surging forward and grabbing my waist, dragging me backwards as my hands clawed at thin air in the direction of Jesse.

"I'M GONNA- I'M GONNA KILL YOU!" my voice cracked as I wriggled and kicked and scratched, Jesse stepped aside, his eyes large and wide.

"M-Mila I-"

"YOU IDIOT! GOD YOUR SO-" I let out another high pitched wail, before Mr White let me fall to the floor in a damp lump.

"We're gonna die out here..." I breathed out, kneeling and staring out at the long planes of the New Mexico desert.

"We're not gonna die Mila." Mr White let out a violent cough, as I stood up to support his back.

"YOU fix this Jesse. This is YOUR fault..." I spat, before strolling away from the vehicle, the blistering heat stinging my cheeks.

"We- We could..." Jesse held his head as he thought shakily, clearly taken aback by my sudden outburst.

"We have a whole lab here right? We could make a-a-a robot! Or a homing device or I don't know a dune buggy!" He kept on rambling, blocking his voice out I concentrated on the sky, watching hypnotically as a plane streamed over- leaving a dusty white contrail on its way.

"MILA-COME!" snapping out of my daydream, I turned around and followed Mr White and Jesse into the RV.

"Go get change, I need coins. Gather them. I need washers- and, and nuts and bolts and screws and any little pieces of metal we can think of that's galvanised. It HAS to be galvanised!" Mr White ordered us both.

"What are we building?" Jesse said nervously.

"You said it yourself..." Mr White sat down at his station and got to work.

"A robot..." Jesse breathed in disbelief.

"A battery. Jesse- get me your break pads too. GO!"

Rushing off, I grabbed my purse and began to root through- for once, being a messy bitch paid off, I had about 10 dollars change at the bottom. Getting on our hands and knees Jesse and I rooted around collecting up and unscrewing any little bits we could get our hands on, scoring the jackpot finding an old power tool kit with a boxful of screws inside. Eventually, when Mr White was positive we had enough to successfully begin whatever he was planning- I began to take in the contents scattered across the work station. He had cut up countless sponges, placing some in tupperware tubs and some in beakers filled with a clear liquid.

"This doesn't look like any battery I've ever saw.." I said curiously, hoping Mr White hadn't gone insane and me crawling on my hands and knees for over an hour had some sort of actual chemical value to this operation.

"Trust me, it's a battery." Mr White assured me, "Or rather, one cell of a battery. Here, cut up the last two sponges." Setting to work, I continued to listen to Mr White.

"Remember the electrolytes? Well think about it. A battery is a galvanic cell. No more than an anode and an cathode separated by an electrolyte, right?"

"...Right." Jesse said unsurely, he had no idea.

"Yeah, well, anyway- on this side we have our mercuric oxide and graphite from your brake pads. This is the cathode. The positive terminal. This is where the supply of current flows out from. Then- here I'll show you." Placing the now cut sponge on the work table, Jesse and I watched as he picked up one of the other tupperware boxes.

"On this opposite side is our anode. It's zinc!" He gathered up the change and screws and shook them in his palms, before placing them in one side of the box separated by the sponge.

"It's what we find in our coins, and anything galvanised." He stuck out his tongue slightly as he continued to work.

"So, the sponge is the electrolyte?" Jesse pondered.

"Yeah... Well, no, the potassium hydroxide is the electrolyte. That's what I'm soaking the sponges in-" he gestured to the submerged sponges in the beakers.

"Good!" Mr White chuckled to himself as Jesse smiled and I almost felt like I was intruding not on a moment between cooker and dealer, not even between student and teacher. But almost a father and son.

"And what... should we use... to conduct this beautiful current with? Hm? What particular element comes to mind?" Mr White glanced between us both as we looked on cluelessly. He began to shake a copper wire before us as me and Jesse both began to smile in realisation- Mr White mirroring.

"Ohhh a wire!" He nodded with a toothy grin as Mr Whites face fell.

"It's copper, Jesse." I looked at him with a shake of my head.

Mr White grunted and grumbled in disapproval before placing down the wire and staring at his masterpiece.

"The only question now is.. will this supply enough current... and how many cells will we need? We've only got enough material for six..." he itched his shaved head and started to take the boxes outside, placing them next to a bigger tupperware box and running over to the RV to fiddle underneath the open hood.

"Be careful putting them in there will ya? 3 by 2 columns." Mr White instructed as Jesse and I began to cautiously place the boxes into the other.

"Alright... lid on." He held two large red wires topped with crocodile clips attached to the RV, "WAIT-positive..." making sure as Jesse placed on the lid.

"Cathode." He placed down a clip on the copper wire that fed through the sponges and out of one side of the box carefully before turning to the other.

"Anode!" He announced, placing it on the clip as a loud spark exploded from his hand and the sweet grumble of the RV's engine started up.

"Damn..." Jesse laughed in triumph as I fell to my back onto the desert floor in a relieved fit of laughter. We were going home.

A/N:

I know this is basically just the prologue and episode and mainly focused on Walt- but from now on all chapters should be centering Mila and Jesse's relationship. Hope your still enjoying, comment to let me know if you want to see more of Mr White in future chapters? I love the character and will be more than happy to write him in a little more. Thank you for all the kind comments and votes! ~ Cat.