Disclaimer: I do not own Jimmy Neutron or any related characters.
Six Months Later
"Jimmy, are you sure about this? You don't have to do this," Cindy reminded her boyfriend as they walked up the stairs to a white house.
"I need to do this, Cind. I need to prove to myself that I'm nothing like Calamitous. You don't have to come with me, though," Jimmy reminded her.
"Jimmy, we started this adventure, and we're going to end it together," she reminded him yet again.
Jimmy took a deep breath and gathered his courage. You have got to do this, Jimmy. You just have to. Jimmy rang the doorbell.
A few seconds later a women in her early forties opened the door. "Who are you?" she asked the two fifteen year-olds.
"Um, hi Mrs. Rogers. We spoke on the phone a few days ago. We, well, I have to talk to you. It's about your son," Jimmy quietly said.
At the mention of her son Jimmy saw her expression sadden. "Please come in," she told them. "Frank! Come down here please," she yelled up the stairs.
A man of about the same age as the woman ran down the stairs. He kissed his wife on the cheek and grabbed her hand. He stared at the two teens in front of him, who were also holding hands. Mrs. Rogers led her husband onto the couch.
"Mr. and Mrs. Rogers, this is very difficult for me to say, but it has to be said. I am the one that killed your son," Jimmy said sadly. He wiped a tear from his eye as Cindy squeezed his hand.
Mr. Roger's expression quickly turned to one of anger. He jumped up, but his wife quickly pulled him back down into his seat.
"What did the government actually tell you about your son's death?" Jimmy sheepishly asked.
"All they told us was that he was aiding a master criminal and that some teenager shot him. They were lying, weren't they? My son would never have done such a thing! He was a good boy, and you killed him!" Mr. Rogers shouted rising to his feet again.
"Frank, dear, calm down," Mrs. Rogers told him.
"No! This boy is the murderer, not my son! You'll pay!" Frank shouted as he jumped up and hit Jimmy hard in the face.
"How dare you!" Cindy shouted as she rose to Jimmy's defense, ready to fight Mr. Rogers.
"Cindy, no!" Jimmy shouted. Cindy stared at him. "This is my problem. Please let me handle it," Jimmy told her as his nose started to bleed. Cindy nodded her head in agreement and backed off.
"Listen, I think you deserve to hear the whole story," Jimmy told them. Mrs. Rogers pulled her husband back onto the couch. For the next hour Jimmy and Cindy recounted their tale to the couple.
"That is truly what happened. Your son had broken the law. But that in no way justified my killing him. He was of no threat to me. He was unarmed and injured. He couldn't have hurt me, yet I killed him anyway," Jimmy sadly told them. Mr. and Mrs. Rogers looked at him in silence, both of them with a scowl on their faces.
"I know what I did was wrong. I know that my apology won't bring your son back, and I will have to live with this guilt the rest of my life. I just thought that we both needed the closure. I'll go now. Once again, I'm truly sorry," Jimmy said as he grabbed Cindy's hand and walked out of their house and hopped into the hover car. Mr. and Mrs. Rogers just stared after them.
"Cindy, could you drive? I just need to lie down," Jimmy asked her as they took off in his hover car.
"Sure, Jimmy," she told him as she took Jimmy's seat in the pilot's chair. "Jimmy, you did more than anyone else would have. The fact is he was a criminal. You righted your wrong. You proved to yourself that you're nothing like Calamitous. Cheer up," Cindy told him.
"Cindy, I know that you're trying to make me feel better, and I appreciate it. I know that I shouldn't feel this bad about it, especially after all of this time. God, why did I have to look in his face all of those months ago? It would have been so much easier to think of him as just an enemy, not a person," Jimmy tiredly told her as he laid down.
Cindy put the hover car on auto-pilot and sat down next to Jimmy. She took his face in her hands and made him look her in the eyes. "Jimmy, you are the kindest and smartest boy I have ever met. I love you, and you know it. You are always surrounded by family and friends. You made a mistake. Everyone does. But it's been six months. You finally apologized to the right people for what you did. It's like you said, both of you needed closure. I can't expect you to just forget about what you did, but try not to think about it. You ended it back there. You have the rest of your life ahead of you. Just, just enjoy it. We all love you, Jimmy. Especially me. Now get that big brain of yours back in the game," she instructed him.
Jimmy looked Cindy in the eyes. God, even after all of this time I still get that same feeling when I look at them. He thought about what she had just told him. I did something wrong, but I fixed it the best I could. There is nothing more I can do. Cindy's right. I have to move on.
Jimmy nodded his head, and Cindy kissed him and let his face go. She snuggled up against him and laid her head on his shoulder. Jimmy looked down and saw the girl that he loved. He looked behind him and saw the sun set as the Rogers' house disappeared into the horizon. For the first time in six months he smiled and didn't feel a pang of guilt. He was as happy as when he had confessed his love to Cindy after escaping from Calamitous all those months ago. I'm back, he thought.
Author's Note: Well, I'm finally finished with this story. I had never expected it to be this long. In fact, I wrote the first chapter because I was really bored. I looked at the first few paragraphs and thought "No way can I make this into a story". I guess I was wrong.
I expected to end it after about ten chapters, with Eustace being the main villain. Then I thought that it might be an interesting plot twist for Calamitous to be the murderer. That bought me about another five chapters.
I'd like to thank all of my reviewers, they really motivated me to keep writing. I'd especially like to thank SilverSummerMoon and NeT. Those two gave me quite a few generous reviews.
Well, that's about it. I don't know what my next story will be about, I think I need a little break after writing all of this. Thanks again for reading, and I hoped you liked it.