Okay, going to keep this short and sweet but just… thank you all so much. :) This chapter begins the day after the previous chapter. Hope you all enjoy!

({No POV})

Mrs. Folfax was looking through the mail until she stopped when she saw her husband looking out the living room window. Well, glaring at whatever he was looking at outside the window to be more precise.

She tilted her head slightly in confusion as she approached him and started, sounding slightly concerned, "What's wrong, baby?"

All Mr. Folfax kept doing; however, was continue to look outside with a look of almost hard disdain as he kept looking on and let out a frustrated grunt through his nose.

Eventually Mrs. Folfax looked outside too and her confusion quickly subsided as she saw what was happening, well who.

Libby and Sheen were both standing out front near Sheen's van, dropping her off at her house like usual after school before he goes and helps on a couple jobs for his dad after school. Though that wasn't all that was happening, considering the two were looking to be pretty close next to the side of the van.

"What does Libby even see in him?" She heard her husband exasperate out loud in frustration, not quite directly talking to his wife but more just thinking aloud in frustration at the current display he was seeing between his daughter and Sheen.

Mrs. Folfax pursed her lips in almost confliction. While in many ways she did agree with her husband about this particular 'subject', she was more perplexed by it than irritated and borderline infuriated by it like it seemed to make her husband… especially recently.

She sighed and started, "Well… it's not like it was hard to guess. Sheen's practically always been pretty sweet on her."

"I wasn't talking about him. What I want to know is what our daughter possibly sees in that manic idiot who's been held back twice when she can clearly do much better dating someone else? Anyone else! I'd rather her date the Wheezer's boy with all those allergies that sound like they don't even exist!" Mr. Folfax ranted as he looked back outside and seemed to get even more infuriated as he looked outside to see Sheen's hands now on Libby's sides as they kept kissing, making his fists clench at his own sides.

She put a hand on his arm as she started, "Charles, just relax and leave them be. Besides, it's not like Sheen hasn't been getting better. After all, he's working with his dad now. And I doubt Eduardo would let him work for him if he wasn't responsible enough to do the job. Not to mention he fixed our air conditioner during that heat wave earlier in the summer when Libby was still gone."

"Well, I have no problem with Eduardo, Celeste. He's a good guy. It's not his fault his son is a complete…" "Charles… relax. Why don't you come to the kitchen and I'll get us both some iced tea?" She cut in, clearly wanting to just put down the subject for now… mainly to stop her usually calm and even keeled husband from giving himself an ulcer, as she gave him a kiss on the cheek before walking off.

He looked behind him at his wife, his expression softening for a moment… well until he looked back out the window and felt his irritated displeasure and borderline rage as his jaw tensed up when he saw Sheen's hands right as they started smoothing down Libby's sides until they were barely above her hips.

Meanwhile Mr. Folfax's hands clenched as he threatened under his breath, "Those hands better not go any lower, slick…"

After that, he forced himself away to go to the kitchen before his wife came back to check on him.

Even though his angry confusion was still ever present in his mind, his expression slowly became more perplexed as he walked toward the kitchen.

3 months ago

It was the peak of summer and the heatwave was causing everyone's AC units to breakdown, one of these households being the Folfax's.

Mrs. Folfax made a phone call to Estevez Heating and Air Conditioning and was told by Sheen's father that they'd be out as soon as possible. Their house was practically almost sweltering at this point in the day as Mrs. Folfax appeared to be breaking down herself and taking a magazine off the counter to fan herself.

She continued what she was doing until she heard the doorbell ring.

"Oh thank goodness…" She said out loud to herself as she went to the door, appearing almost elated at finally getting their air conditioner fixed.

She opened the door only to stop dead in her tracks and go wide eyed as she saw Sheen standing there. "Uh, hey Mrs. Folfax." Sheen started as he took off his hat only to give himself a weird look as to why he felt like he needed to do that as he put the hat back on his head.

Mrs. Folfax tilted her head, wondering why Sheen was there, "Oh, hi Sheen. Sorry, I guess I was expecting your dad. If you're looking for Libby, she's still away on her trip right now."

"Oh yeah, I got that. My dad just sent me here to fix your AC." Sheen said, gesturing with his thumb toward his work van.

It was at this point Mrs. Folfax noticed to her surprise that Sheen was dressed in a polo shirt and hat that had "Estevez Heating and Air Conditioning" etched into them and that he was holding a tool box in his left hand.

It was clear she was still confused as she started, "Oh, I had no idea you did... this."

It was like she had no other way of expressing her shock at seeing Sheen actually dressed in a work uniform and acting pretty mature… or at least 'mature' for Sheen.

After all, she was used to seeing him for as long as she could remember being this hyperactive, obnoxious, and short attention spanned boy who was always walking around in an Ultra Lord shirt and mask with an action figure almost constantly in hand.

And when he wasn't obsessing over Ultra Lord was usually showing his fairly obvious little crush (at least it was always pretty obvious to Mrs. Folfax) on her daughter.

But now… it's like she couldn't believe who she was even looking at.

"Uh, Mrs. Folfax?" She heard Sheen say and seemed to be brought back to reality as she said, "Oh sorry, I had no idea you were working with your dad? How long have you been doing this?"

Sheen shrugged and responded, "Eh, just this summer. My dad's been showing me how to work this stuff for the past couple years though. Not a bad gig though! My dad got me into working with him after one of Jimmy's inventions backfired. I thought it was awesome! But, I had to get a bunch of stitches in my head and that kinda freaked my dad and grandma out. Wanna see 'em?!"

"O-oh, no! That's fine, I don't need to…" She started until she stopped dead and felt faint for a split second, being a slightly squeamish person when it comes to things like this, as she saw the stitches Sheen was now showing her on the top of his head.

She looked like she was struggling until she realized now that in some ways Sheen was still completely unchanged.

But, not even skipping a beat, Sheen just said, "Anyway, the AC's still around back, right?"

Though Mrs. Folfax was clearly still 'recovering' from seeing Sheen's stitches… as well as her still internal shock at Sheen being the HVAC tech his dad sent to fix their AC.

She had enough mental capacity at the moment through her shock to at least nod in confirmation. Sheen just grinned and gave her a thumbs up as he replied, "Sweet! This will be cake. I'll have it going in no time! Thanks Mrs. Folfax!"

After that Sheen just walked out back with his tool box. Mrs. Folfax continued to stand there until she practically raced to the back of the house, almost as if she was regretting her decision for allowing Sheen to handle something important.

She looked like she was about to open the back glass sliding door into the back yard to stop him until she saw Sheen already knelt down by the air conditioner with it already wide open, gloved up and holding a screwdriver. Still slightly skeptical, she kept watching him as he kept up what he was doing.

As time went on though, she slowly relaxed but still looked confused about the entire current situation.

Though now she was confused for an entirely different reason, almost like reality was setting in as she was looking at Sheen in an almost completely different light at the current moment.

She was pulled out of her thoughts as she heard the almost miraculous sound of the AC kicking back on and then Sheen yelling out in celebration, "YES!"

She looked over and saw Sheen doing a fist pump to himself as he closed the unit back up and packed up everything in the tool box again.

Eventually Mrs. Folfax was able to pull herself out of disbelief enough to grab her checkbook and go back to the front door to settle up for the service fees like she would usually do with Sheen's dad.

She went outside and went over by the van to meet Sheen and gave him the check she wrote out (despite feeling incredibly astonished she was handing any form of money over to Sheen) and thanked him.

Sheen grinned and started, taking the check, "No problemo, Mrs. Folfax! Oh, uh, hey! Wait a second!"

He went into the back of the van and pulled out what looked like a present wrapped and poorly taped up in (to no one's surprise) Ultra Lord wrapping paper as he started, "Uh, think you can give this to Libby when she comes back? I know her birthday's next week and I just wanted to make sure she got this before I forgot."

Mrs. Folfax looked almost completely flabbergasted now at the entirety of what just happened but somehow managed to respond through her confusion, "Oh, that's very nice, Sheen. I'll give it to her when she gets back."

Sheen looked like he was about to say something until the walkie-talkie went off on his belt as Mr. Estevez came through and said, "Sheen, another job at the Anderson's. Think you can go there after you finish at the Folfax's?"

Sheen grabbed the walkie-talkie and responded, "Yeah dad! Just finished up. I'll be right over."

"Gracias, son." Mr. Estevez replied. Sheen put all his stuff in the van and closed it up before looking back at a still extremely confused and conflicted Mrs. Folfax as he rubbed the back of his neck before giving her a mock salute and saying, "Well, see ya, Mrs. Folfax!"

After that he hopped into the van and drove off to his next job, leaving Mrs. Folfax in a still very perplexed state before she looked down at Sheen's present to Libby in her hands and tilted her head slightly.

Present (The next day)

The gang was all sitting around in a booth at the Candy Bar where Sam left the table in his typical annoyed grumble despite getting the tab paid.

Although the rest of the gang seemed to ignore it as Sheen kept saying, "And it was so stupid! They were both on that door in the middle of the ocean and…"

"SHEEN! STOP! I haven't seen it all the way through yet." Carl complained and put his hands over his ears, not wanting Sheen to spoil yet another movie for him again like he very often does.

Sheen stopped saying anything as everyone around the booth exchanged looks. Eventually Carl lowered his hands from his ears only to make Sheen yell out quickly on impulse, "And the guy just let himself drown!"

"SHEEN?!" Carl exasperated in frustration at having yet another movie spoiled.

Sheen hardly seemed to be paying attention as he continued to complain, "What?! It was so bogus! That chick could have scooted her butt over and let him on that stupid door!"

Finally Libby cut in and started, "Okay guys, let's chill out and get to what we really came here to talk about. Retroland is having their big Halloween extravaganza starting next week and my dad is able to get half price tickets. Who's in for next Saturday?"

"I!" Carl and Sheen both chimed in simultaneously.

"Yeah, I'm in!" Cindy agreed with a smirk.

"Next Saturday? Um, actually Cindy… Can I ask you about something?" Jimmy cut in, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Cindy turned to look at Jimmy and gave him a look about to ask what was going on, until they remembered they weren't alone since Carl, Libby, and Sheen were all staring at them.

"Wanna go outside?" Jimmy inquired quickly as Cindy responded automatically, "You read my mind." And with that the two slid out of their end of the booth as they walked out of the Candy Bar hand in hand.

Meanwhile Carl, Libby, and Sheen continued to watch on in silence as Sheen finally broke in, "Okay, I know we all knew about this and saw it coming… but am I the only one still not used to seeing them get along and stuff?"

"MmHmm." Libby said through pursed lips as Carl responded simultaneously, "Got that right."

The three continued to stare at the door as Jimmy and Cindy walked out to the parking lot to Jimmy's hover car.

15 minutes later

Although Jimmy and Cindy just meant to talk right outside the Candy Bar, with it being a Friday night… even the parking lot had quite a few loitering teens in it, many of whom immediately looked at Jimmy and Cindy upon walking out.

So, the two made the executive decision to drive home in the hopes of at least getting some shred of 'privacy' to talk.

Luckily by the time they got back to their block, it seemed to be quiet.

Jimmy parked and let out a sigh as Cindy tilted her head slightly as she started, sounding unsure and slightly concerned, "Is everything... okay?"

Jimmy shook his head a little and scrunched his eyes before saying, "Sorry, it's just... I've had something I wanted to ask you about for awhile, but just couldn't get a good enough opportunity. So… I guess now's as good a time as any?"

He started reaching into his back right pocket on his jeans as Cindy starting, now sounding confused and slightly frustrated, "Look, what are you?..."

She stopped as Jimmy handed her a 3"x6" card that turned out to be an invitation written in a fancy, scroll-esque cursive font.

Cindy started to read it over to herself:

Admittance to the 75th Annual Retroville Gala this the 27th of October at 6:30 PM.

(White tie attire only.)

Cindy's eyes went wide as Jimmy cut in, "You see… I got asked to attend the gala a couple months ago. And I was going to go alone, but then I figured since we're together and we didn't go to the homecoming dance that maybe we could go to the gala together? I know it probably won't be anything that interesting or fun and will mostly be me trying to ask and get rich people interested in donating grants for my research and experiments. At the very least it's an opportunity for us to go somewhere dressed up together? But, I get it if you wouldn't be interested since I'm allowed a plus one. After all its kind of last minute and you probably don't have a dress for it on hand and…" Jimmy's tirade got cut off as Cindy gave him a short kiss on the lips, catching him off guard for a second, until she pulled back and said, "I'd love to."

It was like Jimmy was in a state of shock as Cindy got out of the hover car and started walking away before turning around and saying with a smirk, "And just fyi, I do have an evening gown. Good night… James."

Then even more to Jimmy's shock, Cindy blew him a kiss before walking into her house.

After she shut her front door behind her, Jimmy continued to look on in a state of shock at how smoothly that whole thing actually went.

Almost like he was realizing he got himself worked up over nothing.

Then it was like the fact that Cindy actually said 'yes' finally set in as he slowly smiled to himself.

Meanwhile inside the Vortex residence, Cindy had her back against the door as she slowly and progressively seemed to 'lose her cool' that she had outside just now and bit her lip before saying quietly to herself, looking like she was desperately trying to keep herself contained, "Yes!"

Next chapter will be the start of the gala… as well as the introduction of some characters new to the fanfic. Or guess I should say 'character' for now. Last chance to make your guesses and predictions on who you think Jimmy and Cindy will run into. ;) Anyway, if you were also able to guess what movie Sheen was complaining about and spoiled for Carl… kudos to you! Haha. XD I also hope you liked the scene with Libby's parents' respective outlooks on what they think of Libby dating Sheen. More on that later. ;) Well, anyway, thank you all for stopping by to read and constructive feedback is always very much appreciated as always to let me know what you think thus far if you want to and have the time. :)

Stay safe, healthy, and classy!

Dexter1995