A/N: I like my TV shows to have definitive endings. So I thought I'd try my hand at writing a happy ending for Jimmy and Cindy.
James Isaac Neutron was up to something. That much was painfully obvious to Cindy Vortex, who had known her next-door neighbor for the majority of her twenty years. Jimmy had been noticeably absent from her life over the last couple of weeks, and the only time she had seen him was briefly in the college classes they shared. Usually this wouldn't bother Cindy – after all, Jimmy was always up to something. But this time was different.
"Why is it bothering you?" asked Libby, when Cindy voiced her frustrations over a cup of coffee at the Candy Bar. "Jimmy's always up to something."
"I know" replied Cindy. "And if I thought this was another one of his dumb science experiments, guaranteed to almost end civilization as we know it, I wouldn't be so worried…"
"Hey! Be fair to the man," defended Libby. "Jimmy has won five Nobel prizes for his experiments. The universe hasn't even come close to collapsing since the eighth grade…"
Cindy scoffed. "Tell that to Pluto. It's not even classified as a planet anymore, thanks to the demonstration of Jimmy's reduco ray. But that's besides the point. The thing is… Betty's back in town!"
"Betty Quinlan?!" Libby exclaimed. "I haven't seen her since she left Retroville nine years ago."
"I know! And now that she's all grown up, she's even more beautiful than before" Cindy added with a grimace. "I didn't recognize her until she came up to me and said hello."
"You think Jimmy would cheat on you?" Libby asked doubtfully.
"No, no - nothing like that. Jimmy is far too much of a gentleman. But... what if he's distancing himself from me, so I won't be so hurt when he dumps me?"
"Well girl, it sounds to me like you're wayyy off base. But there's only one way to find out for sure. You need to ask your man what's what."
"I guess so..."
The problem was, Cindy reflected as she walked down the sidewalk, is that she wasn't completely positive that she and Jimmy were dating. Even after all these years, their relationship was an awkward combination of arguing and flirting. They would be disagreeing about the correct properties of quarks one minute, and making out the next. One the plus side, they always celebrated Valentine's together as well as the anniversary of their first kiss. On the negative side, most of their "dates" had consisted of eating at the Candy Bar or trying to prove each other wrong from the comfort of the hover car. Jimmy had never actually said the words "I love you," and so Cindy had never completely opened up in return. Jimmy's childhood crush on Betty had only complicated matters. Cindy had been ecstatic when Betty had moved away – she had even thrown a private party for herself and Libby. No boys had been invited, of course. And in the years following, Cindy had cherished the close attention Jimmy had paid to her. She always hoped Jimmy would declare his feelings eventually, and Cindy was more than happy to remain at his side until that day came. But there was one niggling doubt in her mind – what if Jimmy only started liking her because Betty had exited the picture? What if Cindy was only Jimmy's second choice for a soul mate?
Now in a sour mood, Cindy was in no state of mind to be patient. "Open the door!" she demanded as she banged on the door to Jimmy's lab. "I mean it Jimmy, don't even think about – "
The floor whooshed out from under her, and she fell down the slide entrance to the lab.
"Neutron!" Cindy bit out angrily.
"Hey Cindy!" Jimmy said with a distracted smile. He was hurriedly covering up some of the materials on his lab desk, an action which did not escape Cindy's notice.
"What are you hiding?" she demanded.
"Nothing, just a little side project I've been working on..."
"I'm serious Jimmy." She sighed, found an empty chair, and took a few calming breaths. "I need to talk to you."
Jimmy looked at her quizzically. "What's up?"
"I - um, do you – well, the thing is… are you ignoring me?" Cindy finally burst out.
Jimmy was genuinely shocked. "No! Not at all! Why would you think that?"
"Well…" Cindy scuffed her foot on the ground. "I haven't seen you much recently. And Betty Quinlan moved back to Retroville…"
"Oh." Jimmy seemed unconcerned. "Well that's interesting, I guess."
Cindy looked up sharply. "Tell me honestly – do you still have feelings for her?"
"Betty?" Jimmy laughed. "Of course not."
Cindy looked unconvinced, so Jimmy tried to explain.
"Scientific research has shown that infatuation only lasts a couple of years, at most. And it's been nine years since I've seen her. I got over that a long time ago." He tilted his head in confusion, "Are you truly still jealous of her?"
"No! Don't be absurd." After a moment, she added, "But you've shown interest in me for more than a couple of years. I mean – I thought it was interest…"
"Of course." Jimmy replied, this time looking decidedly uncomfortable. "Because that isn't infatuation…" He cleared his throat, looking anywhere except Cindy.
"Oh" she replied quietly. She quickly wiped the wide grin from her face when Jimmy started to look up again.
"And about the project – I can't tell you yet, but you'll find out about that tomorrow. I'm almost done, I promise."
"Okay then" Cindy permitted, somewhat mollified and more than a bit embarrassed. "But I'm warning you Neutron, it better me good."
"Oh, it will be" Jimmy promised with a smile.
Cindy's Saturday morning started excellently. Jimmy had given her a call, asking her out to a formal restaurant located at the edge of Retroville. But that anticipation had turned to anxiety as the time drew near. Cindy had spent hours in front of the mirror, trying to get her golden tresses and little black dress to be "just perfect." She wanted to look her best for Jimmy and his surprise, whatever it may be. Jimmy picked her up promptly at 6 o'clock, looking stunning in this suit – as always, Cindy thought with a wry smile. The bouquet of red roses in his hand was only icing on the cake. The resulting dinnertime conversation was fairly typical, with Jimmy and Cindy's pleasant chatter eventually morphing into no less than three disagreements about the upcoming importance of nanobots. Jimmy then invited Cindy to "an evening drive", which turned out to mean a ride in his rocket.
As they soared over the city of Retroville, Jimmy checked his watch and then set the rocket to auto-pilot. He turned around to face Cindy with a serious expression, cleared his throat, and pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. Unfolding the paper, he said "I wasn't completely honest with you yesterday. I wrote down what I wanted to say…" He began to stutter: "D-De-Dear Cindy: I argue with you more than anyone I –"
Cindy tore the paper out of his hand angrily, barely managing to hold back tears. "Damn it Jimmy, if you're going to break up with me you should at least have the decency to act sincere!" She stared down at the paper, the grief leaving her face as she read.
Dear Cindy, I argue with you more than anyone I know. And I treasure every minute of it. I value your stubbornness, your inability to give up on yourself or on me. I constantly admire your intelligence, even when you use it to prove me wrong. I live for the moments when you allow yourself to be vulnerable with me, while remaining a wall of strength towards the rest of the world. In short, I love your many strengths, as well as your weaknesses. I love everything about you. I love you. I have competed for many achievements, but there is one distinction I would prefer above all. Dearest Cindy, WYMM?
"WYMM?" whispered Cindy in shock. She looked back at Jimmy to see him gesturing towards the night sky, with a sheepish smile on his face. It took her a few seconds to figure out what he was pointing at, but then she saw it. There was a new constellation above them, dozens of stars shining brightly in a recognizable pattern millions of light-years away. They spelled out several words: CINDY WILL YOU MARRY ME?
"You made those stars for me?" Cindy breathed in awe, starting to cry for a very different reason.
"Yes. That's what I have been doing for the last two weeks. It's not easy to invent an operational Stellar Fusion 8000, you know. To begin with, I had to make a self-sentient spaceship to gather the plasma, which was a three-day project on its own… And then the time travel involved –"
Jimmy broke off as Cindy smashed her lips against his, shutting him up more effectively than anything else could. After a bit of making out, Jimmy moved away and knelt awkwardly inside the rocket. He pulled a small jewelry box out, popping the cover to display a massive diamond ring.
"It's the best I could do." Jimmy said apologetically. "I went through 1,059 pieces of coal before I found the perfect one. And then as I was converting it to diamond, Goddad accidentally – "
"Jimmy!" Cindy said in exasperation.
"Oh, right. Cindy?" Jimmy looked up into the eyes he knew so well. "Cynthia Aurora Vortex - There is no distinction I would prefer above being your husband. Will you marry me?"
"Of course, James" Cindy replied, smiling down at Jimmy through wet eyes.
After a few more hours of whispering sweet nothings to each other, Jimmy brought Cindy back home. As he brought her up to her door, she came to a realization.
"Hey Jimmy, how long will those stars stay up there?"
"Well…" Jimmy replied, doing some quick mental calculations. "Probably about 27 million years, at least".
Cindy smile was smug. "Perfect."
As she walked in the door, Jimmy thought: Not as perfect as you are.