Chapter 25: Yang

Jimmy Neutron always figured that he could handle anything life threw at him. He had survived numerous battles with foes, explosions, and heaven only knows what else that he had experienced along his path in life. He was also a genius and there were few problems that he could not solve. He had always considered himself vastly superior to most people and had long ago convinced himself that he was, for the most part, invincible. That illusion shattered, however, when Cindy became pregnant.

He had never spent time around pregnant women before, but he had heard horror story upon horror story about the 9 months and how irrational and exhausting they could be. While he understood that all perfectly fine, he couldn't help but think how Cindy was surely above all of that, besides himself she was the most rational person he knew.

How wrong he was.

She had been perfectly fine until she hit 4 months. They had just finished dinner and were loading the dishwater when she suddenly burst into sobs. "What is it? What's wrong?" He demanded as he rushed over to her, looking her over for any signs of injury.

She sniffled. "I just- I don't know."

He quickly learned that she could teary-eyed over numerous things, the Oxy-Clean commercials, an abandoned cat on the street, the fact that the store was out of Ben & Jerry's Phish Food. He also quickly learned that it was of no use to try and reason with her or talk her down. He tried it once and the result was her screaming at him, "I'm pregnant you asshat! WHAT DO YOU EXPECT?!" Followed by several more screaming, explicative sentences about how it was his fault she was pregnant after all, and why couldn't he keep it in his pants?

So he abandoned that approach and made sure to always have ice cream in the freezer.

The odd cravings came quickly after.

"Jimmy. Jimmy!" She whispered, breaking the silence of the night by pushing against his leg with her foot. "Are you awake?"

Groaning, he lifted his head from his pillow to glance at the clock (3am, bloody hell), before responding with, "I am now."

"I'm hungry."

"There's food in the fridge." He muttered before pulling the blanket back over his head.

"You know what I'm craving? Pickles and salsa."

"We don't have any salsa." He grumbled, turning over on his side. He tried to sleep but he could feel his wife's stare even in the dark and sighing, he threw aside the cover, swung his legs over the side of the bed and went to hunt down his car keys. "Better?" He inquired after returning with the largest container of salsa he could find at that time of the night and a spare jar of pickles. Thankfully the cashier hadn't seemed to recognize him and barely gave his purchase a second glance, causing him to wonder what exactly people were buying at 3am on a Wednesday at the 24hour Stop and Shop.

"Absolutely!" His wife cheerfully exclaimed as she sat at their kitchen island, gleefully dunking getting as much salsa as she could on the pickle before popping into her mouth. He simply shook his head and headed back to bed.

Of course, not all of it was bad. He couldn't really complain during the times where she was ridiculously horny and would jump him the minute he walked in the door. Granted, those moments stopped quickly when she began to show more and declared that she was "a land beached whale." Not like it mattered to him. She was still the most gorgeous creature that every walked the Earth in his book. But whenever he tried to tell her that, her response was that he "was only saying that because she was carrying his child." He would merely chuckle, shake his head, and kiss her forehead.

He had been in his study working on some new invention blueprints when Cindy, who had been lounging on the couch in the corner, suddenly sat up, an odd look on her face and her hand on her stomach. "What is it?" He asked in concern but her look gave way to a smile.

"Come over here."

Still slightly concerned, he did as she requested and sat beside her on the couch. "Is it-?" But she shushed him, took his hand and rested it on the side of her abdomen. "Cindy I don't-"Suddenly, he paused as he felt something. "Is that-?"

"Yes!" She whispered. "The baby's kicking." He was pretty sure that he matched her goofy smile with one of his own, but he was too wrapped up in the moment to care.

"Baby clothes?"

"Check."

"Baby blanket?"

He paused for a moment to move around the stuff in the suitcase before spotting the white and dotted corner of the blanket his mother had made for them. "Check."

"Yoga pants, nursing tank top, and open front hoodie?"

"Check, check, and check."

Cindy shifted her position as best she could and smiled at her husband. "Then I think we're all packed for the hospital. Her husband merely grunted in return as he closed the suitcase and sat it by the door. "Two more weeks." She said more to herself then anybody as she ran her hand down her stomach. "It's gone by so fast."

"It has." Jimmy agreed as he joined her on the couch where she immediately curled up to him. "Are you ready?"

"Extremely." She admitted. "I'm sick of being huge. And I want to meet our baby."

"Jimmy!" Two syllables in a hysterical tone of voice were all it took for him to come screaming through the penthouse to the kitchen. And one look at his wife's face was all it took for him to realize-

"Holy shit, its time!" Grabbing the suitcase with one hand and leading his wife with the other, he hustled them both out the door.

To his credit, he really did not remember much from that moment on until they were in the room at the hospital. "Okay, my dear," the redheaded nurse said with a smile. "You're almost there."

"Almost?" Cindy screeched. "Why can't it be now?"

"Your almost there," Jimmy assured her as he gently stroked her hair.

"Shut. Up." Cindy snapped at him. "Gods, your voice is like nails on a chalkboard!" The nurse coughed to hide her chuckle and Jimmy just raised his eyes to the celling. He had figured this was going to happen and so he complied as his wife went through another contraction. "I'm sorry!" She cried, "I love your voice. Really. Can you talk to me please? It's soothing."

He and the nurse shared a smile. "Of course." He responded as he kissed the top of her head.

"Are we ready?" Dr. Martins asked as he walked into the room.

"Perfect timing." The nurse said, she looked up at Cindy. "Ready dear?'

"Yes! Let's get this over with- fuck!" She screamed again. "Jimmy, I am never letting you touch me again. This is so-"She let out another scream.

"You're doing great Cindy!" Dr. Martins assured her, "Keep pushing."

He was pretty sure that all the bones in his hand were broken, but it was all worth it when wails pierced the room and the doctor declared, "It's a boy!"

"A boy Cin." He whispered to his wife he had flopped back against the pillows in exhaustion. "A boy."

"Congratulations." The nurse said with a smile as she placed the tiny bundle in Cindy's arms.

Both parents leaned in eagerly and looked at the tiny face that peeked out at them with a yawn. "He's perfect." Cindy whispered.

"He sure is." Jimmy sat beside her and gently touched their son's hand with his pinky finger. He glanced at his wife. "Alexander?"

"Alexander."

A/N: Are we understanding why the chapter is named Yang? Because Yang is considered the male part of yin and yang and the Neutron's had a boy! Clever right? Haha. Thank you all for joining me on this adventure! Hard to believe there is only one chapter left! Stay tuned for the finale...