"Neutron, what's the big deal? You're really starting to freak me out."
It was late in the evening after a night of studying in Jimmy's lab when they were called by his mom for dinner. Cindy had been over regularly at Jimmy's house for, what she liked to call, study dates, during the past couple months. Nothing ever happened, much to her disappointment, but since senior year, they had really been getting a lot closer than they were as kids.
"Well, Cindy," Jimmy said, as if he had already explained everything to her. "It wouldn't be so bad if we could contact Carl or Sheen."
When Jimmy's mom had called them for dinner, they had left the lab together. Before they were able to reach the house, a large alien ship appeared above them, as if it had been cloaked, in waiting, and beamed them upward into the ship. Cindy reflected that she wasn't as scared as she used to be, since they had been taken by multiple alien races over the years.
They now sat in a cell, flying quickly away from earth, and trapped behind laser beam bars.
Jimmy sighed and continued. "But without any communication devices, there's no way to get a signal to them."
Cindy looked at him with an expression of confusion. She knew they both regularly carried their communication watches Jimmy had made for situations like this. While they were traveling lightyears away from earth, she knew his technology was able to transmit across galaxies.
"Wait, am I missing something here or are you just an idiot?" Jimmy glared at Cindy. "We still have our watches." She shook her wrist with the device in front of her face, mockingly. "Why can't you just contact them that way?"
Jimmy's expression went blank and then his cheeks turned pink. "Well, about that… they don't really- well what I mean is, I never gave- uhm,"
"Spit it out, Dorktron!"
"Carl and Sheen don't have one." He said quickly. He was looking everywhere but at Cindy, keeping his head turned away. "I never made them a communication watch device. I only ever made one," he paused slightly, tentatively looking at her from the corner of his eyes. "for... you."
A rush of fluttering emotions surged through Cindy. When she had gotten the watch several months ago, she had assumed Jimmy made them as standard gear for him and his friends. She had been surprised and delighted that she fell into that category but now, she realized how much trust he really had in her, only her, apparently. Her limbs were numbing over, her hand heavy as she brushed a hair out of her face.
Jimmy was looking at her now, cheeks still flushed but fear still evident in his eyes. It was that look, the raw emotion he was giving her, that made her own face heat up. He was telling her the truth. He wouldn't bother with a lie while they were in real danger.
Cindy looked at her watch, thinking of the first time he had given it to her but quickly remembered the watch she was wearing had been a second one.
She gasped. "Is that the reason you didn't give Libby a watch?"
Jimmy looked confused at the sudden shift in her mood. "Huh?"
"You never made one for Libby. I um," Cindy realized she'd have to tell him what she had done. Though it looked as if her actions might have saved their lives.
"Remember when I lost my watch while we were on the Glaupunk Quadrant mission?"
Jimmy nodded and looked slightly irked. "Of course, I do. I had given you the device not even a month earlier and what do you do, lose it on our first real mission in months." He crossed his arms lighting up slightly. "I did end up making some modifications for your new one."
Pointing at her watch Jimmy started to go into the details of his upgrade but Cindy pulled her arm away.
"Yeah, okay Jimmy, not the point." She pushed her hair back, feeling affectionately flustered at his lack of focus on anything but his gadgets.
"What I was saying was, I didn't actually lose it." She smiled sheepishly at him but held her back straight. "I gave it to Libby."
"Wait, what?"
"Yeah," she shrugged. "I thought they were something you made for all of us, but it kind of ticked me that you didn't make one for Libby. I didn't know why! But now…"
The idea that she was his first thought of communication, of trust in an emergency, even before his best friends made her giddy with affection. Cindy blushed and smiled, crossing her arms triumphantly. "Aren't you glad I had the forethought to give her mine?"
Jimmy just stared at her, shocked she had lied to him but hopeful for their rescue. After a small silence he spoke up, clearing his throat.
"Okay," he nodded. "Let's call her then."
He pulled out his watch and began transmitting a signal. Cindy huffed slightly but she was smiling.
"What, no 'Thank you Cindy'? No, 'Wow, you're so smart to think of that, Cindy' 'What would I ever do without your amazing intellect, Cindy'?"
Jimmy simply ignored her but lit up when he saw Libby's face on the watch. "Libby! Thank plutonium!"
"Hey Libs," Cindy said over his shoulder, holding up a hand.
"Jimmy? Cindy?" Libby said in concern. "What's going on, where are you guys?"
Jimmy began to explain the situation to Libby, where he thought they were, where he thought they were being taken, and told her to grab Carl and Sheen before sending her the coordinates from his watch of their location.
It wasn't but 10 minutes later when she called back, looking like she was trying not to freak out.
"Libby?" Cindy said, beginning to worry. "What's wrong?"
"Uhm.. well, none of us can find any DNA of yours, Jimmy."
Jimmy looked down at his watch in confusion. "None?"
Libby shook her head.
"Doesn't Carl or Sheen keep extra clippings of my hair, just in case?"
Carl appeared on the screen, leaning over Libby. "We're all out Jim. I must have used all that I had."
Sheen appeared as well, pushing his way into the small screen. "Jimmy!" he shouted, "Even the little stash I keep in my Super-Secure Super-Lock Ultra Lord Lock Box is out!"
Libby pushed him aside. "Is there anywhere else we should check, Jimmy?"
"Did you look in my bathroom?" Libby nodded. "On my brush?" Another nod. "Trashcan?" He asked hopefully.
"Yes," she said in exasperation, throwing an arm up. "We checked everywhere. "
Cindy then spoke up. "What about your parents, do they have any of your hair?"
"Unlikely." Jimmy responded. Cindy knew he didn't trust his father in his lab, but she thought maybe he would have given his mother access at some point.
A bright look crossed Jimmy's face as he realized something. "Oh!" He said hopefully. "Why don't you just use-" He then cut himself off, abruptly looking like he was going to be sick.
Both Libby and Cindy spoke at the same time. "Use what?"
Sheen could be heard behind Libby. "Yeah Jimmy, where do we need to go?"
Jimmy stuttered over his words. "Uhmm, well…"
Cindy rolled her eyes. "If it's going to get them into the lab, just tell us."
She thought for a second, what could be so embarrassing that he was unwilling to tell his closest friends. A small flutter in her stomach made her feel nauseous for a moment, thinking maybe he had some secret girlfriend or personal contact that he hadn't told anyone about. Maybe they were the one he had given a lock of hair to, for emergencies like this.
Then she stopped herself. Out of all the people Jimmy had trusted with his life and his safety, it was only Cindy that he had trusted enough to give a communication device to. While she knew she didn't have a stash of his hair hidden away, she thought if he hadn't given her any, there was no way some person unknown to his friends had a collection of his hair.
Jimmy gulped but begrudgingly began to speak. "Just, um, just use a bit of-" He paused for a moment, clearing his throat. "Use Cindy's hair."
"Huh?" "What?!" "Excuse me?" "Did he just say-"
They all spoke in unison, Cindy the most flustered of all. Jimmy simply nodded, keeping his eyes focused on Libby.
"Yeah, you can, um, just use some of Cindy's hair to get in."
There was a tingling sensation in Cindy's fingers. She touched her hair softly, still looking at Jimmy, trying to process what he was saying.
If they were able to use Cindy's hair that means he had put her DNA code into VOX's system. Somehow, he had obtained her DNA, had the forethought to put it into the system, and must have thought she would need to use it at some point.
Why hadn't he told her?
There were many instances where she had to grab some of his hair to get into his lab over the years, and many times where he had been home but asleep and only after banging on his door for 30 minutes, did he answer. She could have easily been able to just simply use her hair and gotten in, but he had chosen not to let her know that she had access to his lab.
How long had he been hiding it?
Over the course of several years, she had needed that access but never once did he even hint at the fact that she could have just walked in herself. It was strange that he let her have access but hadn't told her. It was even stranger that while SHE was the one with access, his own best friends didn't have their DNA coded into his system.
Sheen's nasally voice broke Cindy out of her thoughts.
"Why does Cindy get access to your lab?"
He sounded offended but Jimmy ignored him.
"Look, just go get some of Cindy's hair and get into the lab. From there, do everything I told you and you should be here in no time."
He quickly shut off his watch and crossed his arms, sitting down on the hard floor.
Cindy had been standing beside him and she took that as her cue to sit as well, her eyes never leaving him. He was already irritated but she couldn't help the smug smile forming on her face.
It was an almost giddy flood of relief that not only was she wrong in thinking he had trusted some random person, but the person he seemed to trust most of all had been Cindy herself. Not only with wielding his technology but also with having access to his most personal arsenal of inventions.
"So," She said. "You gave me access to your lab?"
Jimmy wouldn't look at her and he wasn't responding either. She fiddled with her watch for a moment.
"Thanks, Nerdtron, for not telling me I could have gotten into your lab whenever I wanted."
He looked up then, a blush on his face. "This is exactly why!" He motioned with his hands in the air. "I knew you would have taken full advantage of that information."
Sitting up straight, Cindy crossed her arms, still smiling. She knew he was embarrassed but it didn't change the fact of what he had done.
"You were the one to give me the access in the first place. If you knew that, then why put my DNA in the system anyway?"
Flustered and unable to respond, Jimmy just sat back against the wall and shrugged, not looking away from her.
"I trust you."
It was like an electric pulse to her chest. Cindy knew, logically, if he had added her to his lab system and given her one of his watches that he obviously trusted her. But hearing him say it, actually hearing him confess this to her was something she realized she hadn't been prepared to hear.
She let her arms fall to her sides and sat silent. A blush spread across her face as she spoke up.
"Thanks." She said quietly.
Jimmy nodded and smiled.
Cindy smiled back and began to smirk. "So, the famous James Isaac Neutron allows Cindy, and only Cindy Vortex, into his lab."
"Oh, I knew you would get big headed over this!" he groaned, but Cindy could still see a smile on his face.
"Big headed?" She said. "Look who's talking!"
Jimmy nodded and feigned laughter. "Yeah, ha ha. Our childhood called, it wants it's insults back."
Cindy and Jimmy both smiled warmly at each other, reveling in the comfort of their banter and hopeful for the rescue from their friends.
AN:/ Cute One-Shot I made after re-watching the series for the 100th time. I had forgotten how much I love these dorks and how much I love the show.
More short stories to come!