A/N: Well, my muse ran off to find my sister's after she lost track of hers, and now they're both gone, so I assume they're off gallivanting somewhere, swapping war stories, talking about how overworked they are... Anyway, the show must go on without her, so here goes!
At eight years old, Timmy Turner called the babysitting service of a one Vicki Valentine, because he was, in essence, tricked into doing so by his parents. That day marked the beginning of what would feel like a lifetime of torture; though one should note that two years probably does feel like a lifetime to a ten year old. Of course, during the tenth year of his life, the brunet had managed to save the outwardly heartless red-head more times than he could count, and likely more times than said red-head was willing to admit.
This lack of admission meant that the animosity between them would neither grow, nor would it shrink; not at first anyway. It wasn't until the brunet found himself in his twelfth year that he would notice a marked change in her behavior, likely because she normally went out of her way to show that there wasn't a nice girl beneath that angry, hateful, unpleasant shell that she wore. It wasn't sudden(in fact, it was extremely gradual), but spend enough time around a person, and you tend to notice little changes in their personality. It was those very little things that he took notice of though. Vicki would show up some mornings and give him(and Tootie) a ride to school, or she'd give him an actual scrub brush(rather than his toothbrush) to clean the bathroom floor... she even bought him a new toothbrush! And that was only if she even made him do his chores in the first place. Sometimes she'd let him watch TV while she just relaxed on the couch... Her behavior was definitely odd... But why question a good thing, right?
This continued for two more years, and Timmy now found himself at the hormonally imbalanced age of fourteen, though it was going surprisingly well. No awkward crushes, no thoughts of his fellow female classmates and their various developing areas, and not even any annoying acne to ruin a school picture... Yep, things were going fairly well for Timmy...
SLAM
Well, almost.
Timmy sat in his room and listened for more noise, though he had a sneaking suspicion about who it was that slammed his front door.
"Vicki? What's wrong?"
"Okay... Mom's still here?" this little revelation surprised him, his parents were usually gone by ten in the morning...
"Sorry about the door Mrs. Turner... My day's been off to a rough start..."
"And that's Vicki... Wonder what's wrong?" It didn't take the red-head confirming that her day wasn't going well for Timmy to know something was up. The fact that she was talking to his mother without putting up that sugary facade of hers was evidence enough.
"Oh? Wanna talk about it?" His mother sounded oddly genuine, considering that if Timmy was in Vicki's shoes, his mother would've already left him with his babysitter.
"Well I-"
"Ohp! Sorry! I just remembered my husband and I have to get going! Busy work schedules and all that! Gotta go! We'll see you tonight, since I assume you'll be staying here! Tell Timmy we love him, and have fun you two!"
With that, Timmy heard hurried footsteps leading over to his front door, then said door opening and closing. "Hm. And here I thought they'd actually listen to her and what she had to say..."
"You're not just gonna leave it at that, right Sport?"
Timmy looked to his right from his position near his bedroom door to see Wanda(still in goldfish form) balancing somewhat precariously on the rim of the fishbowl. "Leave it at what?"
"Well... You and Vicki aren't exactly enemies anymore..."
"Your point being?" he didn't need to ask that question. The brunet was smart enough to know what Wanda was hinting at.
"Why don't you go down there and talk to her? It sounds like Vicki could use a friend right now, something's definitely eating at her."
"And this is all under the assumption that Vicki actually wants a friend in the first place. Me and her are... okay. That's probably the best way to put it right now. What if poking and prodding at her just makes her angry at me?"
"Timmy, try to remember that Vicki didn't have the easiest life growing up. And there's the fact that you once made her miserable enough for her to get fairy godparents." Wanda looked at him sternly(or as sternly as a goldfish can look at someone).
"I know..." Timmy looked away ashamedly and scratched the back of his head. He had made a lot of mistakes growing up, many of which were revenge plots to get back at Vicki. None of which he was particularly proud of. He could acknowledge that he made them... He just didn't like being reminded of them. "Wanda... I don't need your help to feel bad..."
"Sweetie, I wasn't- I didn't mean that you were to blame for Vicki getting us as her fairy godparents... You becoming her babysitter was... More like the straw that broke the camel's back, rather than the main cause. Just like we were granted to you when Vicki became your babysitter, you were both on the cusp of getting fairies at that age, but getting a mean babysitter was the..." Wanda waved her fin around, evidently trying to think of the right word.
"Catalyst?" Cosmo jumped onto the rim next to Wanda.
"Yes, exactly!" Wanda exclaimed. "Evil babysitters are the catalyst to receive fairy godparents in this universe!"
"This universe? What does that mean?"
"It means you should go ask Vicki what's wrong. Scoot!" Wanda waved her wand and poofed Timmy from a 'I just woke up and need a shower' state, to a 'showered, changed, and ready to ask my babysitter what's wrong' state.
"But what if she kills me?!"
"She won't... If she does though, I give you permission to haunt me."
"Silver linings..." Timmy muttered as he went out into the hallway and descended the stairs into the living room. As expected, Vicki was sitting on the couch and had clearly heard him coming down, seeing as how she didn't look even remotely upset now.
"Timmy." she spoke without taking her attention off the TV screen.
"Another slip up." "So, what's wrong?" the brunet moved to sit in the recliner next to the couch, knowing that sitting next to Vicki would put him within smacking distance, even if it was playful...
"Hm? Why do you assume something's wrong? I'm perfectly fine."
"Oh... Maybe because you called me Timmy? You've never called me Timmy. I'm the Twerp, remember?" he smirked as her expression went from cool and collected to surprised, then melancholy.
"Can't fool you... I'm fine, just- Just go play video games or something, don't worry yourself over someone like me..."
"Hm." Timmy stood up from the recliner and walked over to Vicki so that he stood in front of her, blocking her view of the TV.
"Hey! C'mon, move. I leave you alone when you're depressed, so leave me alone... N-not that I'm depressed! I just wanna be left alone right now! ...Stop giving me that judgmental look! I'm fine, really! Just-! Fine! Sit down!" the red-head reached out and yanked Timmy down onto the couch next to her. "Twisting my arm so I talk... you're such a dick..."
Timmy, meanwhile, was doing his best to keep from laughing at his babysitter. She had spoken volumes about her current state of mind without him really prodding her at all. The girl had had a conversation with him without him saying a word in response! Clearly there was something not only bugging her, but it was nagging at her to get out, and she reached out to him; the boy that was practically her nemesis, without even giving him the option to decline.
Not that he would've.
"So...?" Timmy poked at her shoulder, eliciting a glare from the girl.
"Grr... So you know how I'm... not exactly the nicest person?"
"Wha? You? No way..." the brunet's voice dripped with obvious sarcasm.
"Anyway... As you probably know, I haven't been... the best daughter to my parents. Nor have I been the best sister to Tootie. And I've been trying to be... but it's hard. I don't give two shits about what other people think of me, but I want my family to..." Vicki sighed and put her face in her hands. "I don't want them to hate me..."
"Well... Tootie doesn't hate you..." Unfortunately, Timmy had only met Vicki and Tootie's parents once or twice, and in that time, he could confirm that they were quite terrified of their eldest daughter.
"Oh really? So she must've simply forgotten that today is my birthday, right? Totally not some other hatred-of-Vicki-related reason?"
So now it made sense. The foul(well, more foul than usual) mood, wanting to talk to Timmy's mom... or probably just someone who would listen... He could understand that. "Um... Don't hit me, but I didn't even know it was your birthday..."
"Of course you didn't! You're not related to me, and I've never told you anyway! I didn't expect our mom and dad to do anything for me. After all, I haven't had a birthday party in years, but Tootie's always said 'Happy Birthday' and gotten me something... But not this year... I've tried, like honestly tried being nicer to them, but... I'm so used to being mean... I guess it's not as easy as I hoped it would be... Just go away..."
Timmy knew better than to think Vicki would cry, but he hoped he'd get a bit more out of her than he did. "Then again, this is Vicki I'm talking about... I should be happy that she felt like telling me anything at all..." the brunet stood up from the couch and made his way over to the stairs-
"Timmy?"
He stopped and turned to look at her. "Yeah?"
"Thanks for... y'know." she didn't quite smile at him, but for once, she didn't look at him with disdain, hatred, or even mild dislike. Her face didn't really betray any particular emotion, but she didn't look as depressed as when he had started talking to her, so there was that.
"We're not ah... Gonna have another heart to heart like this for a long time, are we?"
"I wouldn't count on it." she chuckled.
"Well... at the risk of sounding a little corny... Happy Birthday, Vicki."
Her eyes widened, though only slightly. "...Thanks Timmy."
Timmy nodded and made his way back up to his room, then shut the door as he entered.
"So...?" Wanda poofed into existence in front of him, now in her pink-haired fairy form.
"We talked. About stuff... And..."
"And?" Wanda had a feeling she knew what was coming next.
"Well... Vicki's sad that her family didn't throw her a birthday party." Timmy shrugged.
"So you're gonna throw her a party instead?!" Cosmo appeared and exclaimed excitedly, eliciting surprised looks from his wife and godchild.
It only took a second for Timmy to recover from his shock and smirk at his fairy godfather. "And people say you're dumb... Now, where to start... Oh! I wish I was in Tootie's room!"
"O...kay?" That, however, was not what she expected Timmy to do. Her wand sparkled, and she transformed herself into Timmy's hat, and Cosmo into a backpack as Timmy disappeared in a puff of purplish smoke.
Half a second later, Timmy found himself outside Tootie's bedroom door, which burst open upon his magical arrival. "Hey Toot-" He stopped upon seeing Tootie standing just outside her closet, a veritable treasure trove from the Timmy Turner gift shop that said brunet didn't know existed in her hands, being held over a trash can.
Of course, upon hearing her ex-crush's voice and her bedroom door suddenly opening, the raven-haired girl turned around to look at Timmy, dropping all her Timmy memorabilia into the trash, and shooting him a very surprised look.
"So I can uh... Come back later if I'm interrupting..." the brunet looked into the closet to see a fair amount of his personal items still sitting inside in some sort of mock-shrine. "Or... y'know... never again."
"No! Nonononono! I was just throwing all this stuff away! Really! My crush on you is gone. Finished. Bye-bye! I swear!" as she finished, the shelves of the closet collapsed, covering her in clothes, clothes hangers, and, of course, her Timmy memorabilia.
"I'd leave right now if I didn't need your help." Timmy spoke through a facepalm as he stepped over to his buried friend and jammed his hand into the pile of clothes, then yanked her out of it.
"You need my help?!" the pile of clothes she was now half-buried under practically exploded out from around Tootie as she bounced up and down excitedly. "I can help! I love helping! I love y- So whaddya need?" Tootie interrupted herself and calmed down.
"You know it's Vicki's birthday, right?" Timmy crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at his friend. Mostly because he was disappointed that she'd be mad enough at her sister to not at least tell her 'Happy Birthday'.
"What? How do you... Wait. Today? Vicki's birthday is..." Timmy watched as Tootie took out her phone, presumably to look at her calender. "Oh no. Son of a... I'm-I'm the worst little sister ever!"
"Well, I wouldn't say 'ever' but-" Timmy watched Tootie dart past him and out into the hallway, then down it before stopping in front of what he assumed to be Vicki's door.
"Vicki?" Tootie began frantically rapping on the door. "Vicki? Open up!"
"So did you not hear any fighting earlier today?" Timmy followed Tootie out of her room and stopped next to her.
"Vicki? I'm sorry! C'mon, open up!" again, Tootie knocked on her sister's bedroom door.
"I mean, until today, I had no idea Vicki's birthday was on the thirteenth..."
"Vicki?! Jeez, are you still sleeping or-"
"Vicki's at my house." Timmy at last spoke up, growing tired of watching Tootie bang on Vicki's door in vain.
"Huh?! She is? Then how did you get here without her noticing? We both know my sister wouldn't let you just leave, you're special to her-"
"Excuse me?" "Special? Special how? She can't possibly mean that..." "Are you saying Vicki likes me?!" Timmy yelled, clearly horrified at the prospect of his babysitter liking him.
"What?! Ew! No! You're special to her because your parents are one of her biggest-if not the biggest-sources of income for her! You thought- Ugh! So wrong! Unless... Do you like her?!" Tootie responded with nearly as much disgust as Timmy had shown.
"No! She's like, six years older than me! And evil, in case you forgot. No, we're barely friends, I just came over here because she thought you hated her so much that you wouldn't even wish her well on her birthday!"
"How could she possibly do something so bad to make me feel that way?!"
"Oh, let's see... Because she's Vicki?" Timmy stated matter-of-factly.
"Okay, okay, fair enough. So what are we gonna do?" Tootie leaned up against Vicki's bedroom door and rubbed at her forehead.
"Well... I figure we... do our best to throw her a birthday party?"
"And how exactly do you want us to do that? Need I remind you that Vicki has all of zero friends, except you, apparently. And I seriously doubt that Chester or AJ are gonna come, even if you bribe them with an all-expense paid trip to Tibecuador. Why do you think I've never thrown her a birthday party? Because the lack of party-goers is damn depressing! 'Sides, knowing Vicki, she wouldn't want a huge get-together anyway, let's just focus on the actual party and... I dunno... See if you can convince those two knuckleheads we call friends to show up..."
"And what are you gonna do?" Timmy followed Tootie back into her room.
"I am going to get various party supplies out of my room, and from around our houses..."
"And dare I ask why you have party supplies in your closet, and just lying around your house?"
"Because I'm crazy prepared. Look, if we're gonna do this, I need you to get on the ball. Call Chester and AJ, get them to come to the party, and convince my sister to... go somewhere else. Go... to the mall with her! Yeah... That'll work..." Tootie rubbed her palms together, the stereotypical sign to indicate she had a plan going. "Oh! And I need your house key!"
"Have I ever mentioned that you're insane?"
"Not recently."
"You're insane. And you're not getting my house key. There's a spare under the welcome mat on my front porch, use that one..." Timmy trailed off upon realizing that he had just given Tootie the location of the key to get into his house. Now she could come in uninvited whenever she wanted...
"Okay, cool..." Tootie began rummaging through her closet, then stopped suddenly and turned her attention back to Timmy. "Why are you still here?! Get going!"
"Ah... Right!" Timmy hurried out of Tootie's room, down the stairs, and out the front door. "I wish we were back in my room!" The brunet disappeared in a puff of smoke again, and reappeared back in his room. "Okay... First things first." Timmy took out his phone and began texting Chester.
Wanna come to a party?
Chester's response was swifter than even Timmy expected.
Yeah! What's the occasion?
"Eugh... Didn't think I'd get this far..." Timmy tried thinking up a good lie.
No occasion. Just... a party. Interested?
That was not a good lie.
I guess so. Don't have anything planned 2day. Inviting AJ?
"Phew... Okay, Chester's on board..."
Can U send him a text? Tell him... Tell him Trixie and Veronica are coming!
"Right... just digging the lie-hole deeper now..."
They R?! Sweet deal! When should we head over?
"Let's see..." Timmy scratched his chin in thought. "Need to give Tootie enough time to get here... and text Trixie and Veronica..."
Bout an hour and a half?
"Hopefully that gives Tootie and them enough time to set everything up... Shoot! Need a cake..."
"Ahem?" Wanda poofed off Timmy's head and into her fairy form.
"Oh, right. I wish there was a birthday cake in the fridge for Vicki!"
As per the usual, his fairy godmother's wand sparkled and produced a poofing sound.
"Thanks!" Timmy smiled. He felt... actually pretty proud of himself. It felt good to be doing something nice for Vicki. And so far, everything was going pretty well!
"Ooh! Why don't you wish for a live performance by Chip Skylark?!" Cosmo, still in backpack form, exclaimed.
"Yeah... Let's not wish the guy that wrote a song titled 'Icky Vicki' here on Vicki's birthday... I want her to enjoy her special day, not plot the murder of a celebrity. Timmy took out his phone as he received another text message.
K c u then!
"Okay... Chester and AJ are on board..." the brunet dialed Tootie's number.
"Yeah?" there was the distinct sound of items being thrown around a room as Tootie answered.
"Chester and AJ are coming-"
"Because you told them it was just a party, right? Didn't happen to mention it was Vicki's party?"
"Like they would've come if I had! Anyway, I got them to come, just keep it a secret until we get back or... Or tie them up! You can handle that, right?"
"Not like I've never taken someone hostage before..."
"Great! Now I just need to call Trixie and Veronica, get them to show up, and-"
There was a loud sighing noise from Tootie's end.
"What?"
"Do you have to invite them?" Tootie asked, clearly annoyed. "We only recently made peace with them, and it's still... I dunno, tentative?"
"It was the best idea I had to make sure Chester and AJ came! Look, I get that we're all still... Kind of holding grudges, but it's in the past, and it's for a good cause, so...?"
"...Fine. But you owe me big time for this! No telling Vicki I forgot her birthday, got it? And I'm gonna want... something else too! …Something I've yet to think of..."
"Great, this can't possibly come back to bite me in the ass later..." "Fair enough. Okay... Cake's already here, party supplies are in my room... Anything I should pick up while I'm out?"
"Um... No, that should be fine. Just make sure you keep Vicki preoccupied for a few hours, alright?"
"I'll do my best. Bye Tootie."
"Bye."
Timmy hung up and rolled his eyes. "I wish my room had a bunch of party supplies in it."
Again, Wanda waved her wand, and Timmy's room became nearly filled with party horns, balloons, streamers, and various other party-related items.
"Right. Thank you guys."
"Anytime Timmy!" Cosmo and Wanda exclaimed as Wanda poofed herself back into the form of Timmy's hat.
"Now for the fun part." Timmy walked over to his bed and reached under it, then pulled out a small metal box with a latch. Opening it revealed a small fortune in allowance money. "This is not the type of rainy day situation I had in mind..." he took out about half and put it in his wallet.
"You ever wonder why you're going out of your way to make your babysitter happy on her birthday?" Wanda asked as Timmy shoved his secret stash back under his bed.
"Hm? What do you mean?"
"I mean... We both know Vicki wouldn't go to these lengths for you, so... And I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but why do so much for her?"
"...I'm... not really sure. 'Cause it's the right thing to do? I know Vicki wouldn't do any of this for me, but... I dunno, maybe I feel bad for everything I did to her when I was younger..."
"Some of which was justified..."
"That's just it though, some. Not all. I could've been the bigger person and walked away, but I didn't. I wanted revenge on her, never realizing that she had her reasons, however petty or unjustified they may have been." Timmy crossed his arms and frowned, though not quite in sadness, more in an odd sort of determination.
"But you were ten. Children make mistakes, and you didn't know about Vicki's home life-"
"But how long can I really fall back on that excuse? 'I was a kid! I didn't know any better!' Wanda, at some point I have to take responsibility for my actions! Maybe throwing Vicki a good birthday party; especially since she's never had one, is my way of making amends, without telling her what I did, since it would jeopardize me keeping you and Cosmo. I don't expect it to be easy... But nothing worth doing ever is, and I have to try."
Timmy at last left his room and made his way down the stairs to the living room, not noticing the prideful tear falling down his godmother's cheek. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, the brunet found his babysitter still sitting on the couch, still watching TV, apparently she hadn't noticed that he had been gone. "Hey Vicki!"
The red-head glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "...Why are you so chipper?" There was a certain wary tone in her voice. Which was understandable, Timmy rarely greeted her with anything more than indifference, much in the same way she greeted him as of late.
"Well... I figured we could go to the mall?"
"For what?" Vicki shut off the TV and stretched.
"Okay, halfway there, she wants to go... or at least get out of the house..." "For... your birthday?"
"What? You gonna take me out to eat or something?" there was clear amusement in Vicki's voice, seeing as how she was joking.
"If you want? I have money." Timmy shrugged.
Vicki narrowed her eyes at him. "What are you up to?"
"Nothing! Just wanted to take you out for a bite to eat on your birthday."
"...Uh-huh. Well, whatever. Your money, your loss. Let's go." Vicki walked past Timmy and took her keys out of her pocket, then began spinning them on her finger. "Coming?"
"Y-yeah!" Timmy hurriedly followed Vicki out of his house and over to her car.
