A/N: Thanks guys for reviewing! The next chapter of Love Last might take awhile, I'm totally stumped on how to write that :/ Eventually it will be up. But this story im really into right now, so more updates will probably come on this one for now. Hope you guys like this(:
Disclaimer: I don't own Jimmy Neutron.
Chapter 2: Is it really her?
I couldn't help myself as I stared at the picture in my hands. "So Jimmy, are you ready to be Mr. Timothy Taylor? I'd say you're a pretty lucky guy, your 'wife' is a beauty." Erissa Anthony, my boss, said to me. I turned my head to glance at him, but then back to the picture. The girl looked so much like her. It was impossible. My heart ached. "Anyways, you need to remember. Jimmy Neutron is dead. It is legally recorded." She said. I nodded. Right, that's true, I was dead, and there was nothing to change that. "Anyways, you need to go. I trust you know your way to the Candy Bar? Your wife is sitting in there. Oh yeah, here you might want these." She said, handing me a wallet. I stared at it before I opened it. "Two sets of ID's for the both of you, five hundred dollars in cash, two credit cards, and your wedding pictures. Oh And here's your car keys. Drive safely big boy." She said. Wait, wedding pictures?
"When did I take wedding pictures?" I asked, completely shocked.
"Remember that one day in the office I had you dress up in that tux?" she asked.
"Yeah. That was the night of the office ball wasn't it?" I said. Erissa grinned.
"Yep. I had you get a picture for a reason. With a little photo editing, you become a married man." She said, her face glowing with pride.
"That doesn't explain the wife part of the picture, unless of course they did the same thing to her." I said. She nodded. Oh lovely, my boss, the criminal. She can bend lives with a few clicks of a mouse. I sighed and opened the door. "Well then, I'll see you when this is all done. Guess its time to meet this wife of mine." I muttered, stepping out of the car. I dragged my legs until I was right infront of the Candy Bar. All I could do was stare. It felt like forever since I had last been in there. I have so many memories inside this place, and right now I didn't know if I really wanted to go through it again. I looked at the picture I still had in my hand. The lady, she looked like… Cindy? I blinked and shook my head. Nope, not Cindy.
I pushed the doors open, taking in the shops natural smell. From the looks of everything in Retroville, the city did not look like there was a dictator ruling. Shaking my head, I scanned the room looking for my wife. Just then I spotted her. My legs carried me slowly towards her, and then stopped. She was more beautiful than the picture gave her credit to be. "Ms. Taylor?" I asked. She looked up at me. "Your Alena Taylor right?" I asked, lowering my voice.
"May ask, who are you? I just moved here with my husband, so I don't understand how you would know me." She said, stubbornly. The attitude in her voice, it sounded so much like Cindy's. I gave her a large smile. I had to make this look real.
"Well isn't it obvious, I'm Mr. Taylor, Timothy Taylor to be exact. Your husband." I said. She looked away. Okay why was she looking away? Was she embarrassed?
"Oh right. Sorry, I wasn't given any pictures or names. I was just told to come to Retroville, go to the candy bar, and sit down to order. Then I had to wait for you. " she said. Oh that explained it. Erissa had said Shaun was the forgetful type.
"Oh well. Sorry to hear that. I was given that information, your boss should have given you my details." I said. Wait did that sound cocky? I mentally started panicking in my mind. Just then an older man came back with an ice cream. Well that looked good. I studied the man, but had to refrain myself from gasping. It was Sam! So he was still alive?
"Here you go ma'am, one tropical Paradise," he started. His eyes darted to me. "I presume you're her husband? Would you like anything?" he asked. I shook my head. Nope, I just wanted to get to our new house and get things figured out.
"No, I think I'll take some ice cream from my wife. I had a few things I had to do before coming here, but we are both very tired and think we might be heading to our new home." I said, making sure my voice sounded as smooth as possible. Sam must have been satisfied with that because he nodded and walked away. My eyes settled back onto Alena. "Any idea where our home is at? That was one of the details the boss didn't tell me." I said. She looked at me, her eyes seemed sort of pained.
"Sam, the ice cream guy, said it was the old Neutron home. He said that was the only empty house here that actually was livable. Sam said they left three years ago. Their son and his girlfriend pretty much disappeared." She said, sort of sadly. I swallowed hard. My childhood home? It was empty? Then where was my parents?
"Right, well, um. Maybe you should get that in a to go cup or something? Let's go to this new house of ours. I'm curious to see it." I said. It was true, I was curious to see it. I wanted to know if my lab was left untouched, and to see what really had happened to my parents.
I watched her leave. My home was the only available home? I felt shudders go down my back. Everytime I thought back to the day I left it brought painful memories. That was the day I was told Cindy was dead. I didn't understand how she was, since I had only been away from her for about two hours, but some how she died. Some how I had been convinced to join the government. I think it was to get to the bottom of how she died. I never really learned though, and I think after awhile I just gave up. Here I was though, sitting in the candy bar with a women that looked almost exactly like Cindy.
"Honey, this is Carl. He's our next door neighbor, he's going to show us to our house." Alena's voice interrupted my thoughts. I looked up. Carl, it was good old Carl. Slowly, I stood up and put out my hand to shake his.
"I'm Timothy Taylor. I see you have already met my wife. Thank you so much for offering to take us home. Maybe tomorrow night you and your family could come over for a barbeque?" I offered. It would be nice to getting with him again. Even if I was supposed to be someone else.
"Nice to meet you. We would love to join you. The name is Carl, Carl Wheezer. My wife, Alva, is over there with our daughter Ellie." Carl said, referring to two people across the diner. I smiled, Carl really had beautiful girls. He had done well.
"Who ya talking to Carl?" A young man said behind Carl. Carl turned and grinned.
"Well somehow, we got new neighbors. They are the Taylor's. They just moved into…Jimmy's old house." Carl said, hesitating at the name Jimmy. I held made my face neutral, I couldn't show any emotion towards this.
"Oh well then. The name is Sheen Estevez and this is my wife Libby." He said. I looked around, there was Libby. I had missed my friends. It was good to see them again.
"It's nice to meet you all." I heard Alena say. I wanted to agree with her, but my words wouldn't come out. "I don't mean to sound rude, but can someone show us to our home. We drove our way here and I'm actually ready to crash." She said. I was relieved she said that. Mentally I was thanking her, no I was worshiping her. Carl looked over to her.
"Oh right, yeah. Well then let's go!" he said. I nodded, but stood there. I didn't know really what to do. Alena dropped a five dollar bill on the table, then grabbed my arm. I quickly grabbed her ice cream and followed her out. Grouping my pockets, I finally discovered a pair of keys.
"Um Alena, do you know which one is our car?" I said softly, so only she could hear. She shook her head. Great. Just great. Why hadn't Erissa shown me my car? "Oh hang on this car has a pager thing." I said, not really knowing what it was called. I quickly pressed the button, and was scared and relieved at the same time. The car was right next to us. Alena looked at me, then back at the car, then back at me.
"Well, they certainly picked us a nice car." She said, smiling up. I grinned. We now were owners of a Toyota Sienna. Maybe there was going to be perks to this job. "Well judging on how happy you are with the car, I think you can drive this time." She said. I felt my grin grow as I slid into the car. It certainly was a nice car inside too. The seats were comfortable, very comfortable. "Hey Timothy. Carl is leaving." Alena poked. Right time to drive.
It didn't take long to get to our home. I already knew the way, it was just a matter of playing dumb for Alena and Carl's sake. When we pulled into the driveway, I couldn't help but notice Alena staring at the house across the street. I sighed, putting my arm around her. It was time to play the act.
I looked over towards Carl. "Thanks so much Carl for showing us home. The moving trucks brought all our stuff earlier, but we still have loads of work to do. So you saved us from driving around looking for this place."
Carl beamed. "Its no problem. Its nice to have neighbors again. Did you know, my best friend used to live next door? I grew up in this house. My parents left around the same time the original owners did, but its said thinking about how empty it was for the longest time. The people across the street, the Vortex's. I think they stayed only because they felt some hope. We were told, Jimmy, my best friend, and Cindy, his girlfriend and one of my great friends, had dissappered, and was possibly feared dead. They never came back, and I honestly think that Judy and Hugh, Jimmy's parents, went out to search for them while Cindy's parents stayed here just in case they came back to Retroville." Carl said in a sad voice. My mind was spinning. Cindy and I were missing? I knew that I was supposed to be missing, but Cindy? She was dead wasn't she?
"Well Carl. Timothy and I have a lot of work ahead of us. You tell your wife and the Estevez's to come over Saturday alright? I'm sure we'll be all set by then." Alena said. I partially felt glad for that. Maybe she felt as uncomfortable as I did. We both knew our house had already been premade up for us.
"Good Night Carl, we'll see you later." I said, waving at him. He nodded and smiled, and then got back into his car. I turned to face the house. Taking a deep breath, I started towards the door. I felt miserable looking at it. So many memories were flashing through my head. I looked over to Alena, then picked her up. "Well, were supposed to be a newly married couple. Why don't I carry you over the door frame into our new house." I said, grinning. She looked taken back, but didn't object. Unlocking the door I carried her through.
The house didn't look the same as before. It looked different. My heart ached as I stared at it. I missed the touch my mother had put into the house. "Uhm Timothy? Can you put me down?" Alena asked. Oh right, I was still holding her.
"Yeah sorry." I said, setting her gently on the ground. She laughed and shrugged.
"Its fine. I enjoyed that actually. Well then, lets be formal. I think you should know my real name. My name is Cyththia Vortex. Cindy for short." She said simply. I froze.
"Did you just say your name was Cindy Vortex? As in the girl that used to live here in Retroville, that died four years ago?" I asked.
"Yeah. I didn't exactly die. I just disappeared. I used the government as an excuse to find out what really happened to my boyfriend, but he kind of disappeared too. Sometimes I have the feeling he's not really dead, but also an agent like me." She said softly. I stared at her, if only she knew. "So what about you? Whats your real name?" she asked. I tried to open my mouth, I wanted to tell her I was Jimmy, but something inside me wouldn't let me.
"Well actually…Timothy Taylor is my real name, believe it or not." I lied. I guess whatever was in my brain didn't want to confess just yet.
"Oh. I didn't expect that." She said softly. Was she expecting me to confess to being Jimmy? Was she hoping?
"Yeah, sorry if you thought I was someone else. Now I have a question for you. Its about sleeping. Should I sleep in the guest room, or should I sleep with uh you." I said, praying she would automatically say to sleep in the guest room. Now that I knew it was Cindy, I didn't know how much self control I really had. I still loved her and now that I knew she wasn't dead made me happy. Cindy thought for a moment.
"Well, we are supposed to be a couple, and if our bosses somehow check on us in the middle of the night, then they might get a little stircrazy. So I guess sleeping in the same bed. You can have one side, and I'll have the other." She said. I mentally groaned. This was going to be a long night.
A/N: So how was it? I wanted to do Jimmy/Timothy point of view. Review(:
