Author's Note: I finally got the second chapter out! It wasn't supposed to be this late, but my summer vacation ended a few days after I put out the first one, so I've been busy with school since then (and I'm already sick of it)… I'll try to get the next chapter out a little faster this time!

THE FORCES OF NATURE
by Tardecita

CHAPTER 2: Trust Me

- flashback -

"Was that all, miss?"

"Yes, thank you," the brown-haired woman answered, smiling at the man behind the counter which turned and started to prepare the food she had ordered.

Meanwhile another woman entered the café. She shoved some bangs of her long black hair away from her face as she looked around the room. Behind her came her four year old daughter, but the only thing that gave away that they were related was the magnificent emerald eye color which both of them had. Unlike her mother, this young girl's pigtails had a golden shade of blonde.

Her mother had now spotted the woman by the counter and strolled towards her, clearing her throat to let her know she was there. The woman turned because of the sound and widened her eyes a little.

"Judith," the black haired woman said in stiff tone when she had reached her.

"Marissa," Judith replied in the same kind of tone. "Long time, no see."

"Yeah, I guess that is for the best," Marissa said while glancing down at her daughter and then at the little boy standing next to Judith. "For all of us." She looked up at the other woman again. "How do you like being married?"

"Me and Hugh are doing just fine, thank you," Judith answered. "What about you and Andrew?"

"Never been better," Marissa said as a smug smile crept across her lips. Her daughter stood quietly beside her, looking up at the two women. She was young, but she still managed to sense the obvious hostility in the overfriendly tone both of them used.

Judith's son could sense it too. He was standing beside his mother and had, just like the girl, been staring upwards as the two women had established a conversation. His hair was just a little darker than his mother's, but instead of inheriting her sea green eyes, he had gotten ocean blue ones instead. He lost interest in the dialogue over his head and decided to lower his gaze towards the blonde, which was now looking at him a little curiously.

He was about the girl's age, and like a lot of other four-year-olds he saw her as a potential playmate. She looked at him in the same way, but the deal breaker was that they both understood, from their mothers' attitudes, that the other wasn't supposed to be a friend.

"Come sweetie," Marissa suddenly said and grabbed her daughter's hand. "Let's go somewhere else."

Judith turned defiantly around to pay the man behind the counter, while Marissa was on her way out of the café, dragging her daughter with her. The girl tried her best to keep up with her mother as she looked over her shoulder back at the boy who was still gazing back at her. Right before she left the room she suddenly stuck out her tongue at him, and considering the fact that he copied the gesture pretty fast, it hadn't come as a big surprise.

- end of flashback -

"Rrraff!"

Jimmy was deeply concentrated while trying to fix something on one of his most resent inventions and jumped when his mechanical dog suddenly gave a loud bark. He turned around to look at the canine which was approaching his owner quickly.

"What is it, boy?" Jimmy inquired as he removed the protection gloves from his hands and put them on a nearby table. "Is there something wrong?"

Goddard gave another loud bark as he turned and headed over to a different area of the underground lab, signalizing that he wanted Jimmy to follow.

The summer vacation had finally started, which meant that Jimmy could go to bed earlier because he got to work in his lab at daytime. This was both good and bad; because he often had a good night sleep and wasn't so tired all the time, but he could get lonely sometimes. Sheen was in Mexico visiting family, while Carl was on some llama summer camp. Libby was in Egypt and Cindy had gone to Mauritius.

Not that he would hang with Cindy alone, anyway.

Goddard led Jimmy to one of his computer screens where a red ALERT blinked in one of the corners.

"Hm, what's this?" Jimmy mumbled, frowning, as he bent down to take closer look and pressed some buttons. "According to my Earth Activity Sensor a huge earthquake is approaching, and will happen in the next few days." He pressed some more buttons and a map popped up on the screen. "In Southern Asia," he soon added a little relieved, while patting Goddard's head. "Nothing to worry about! It'll be under the sea and will only cause a wave that won't even be big enough to reach land in any direction. And if it does, it won't do much damage."

Jimmy turned and was about to go back to what he was doing before he got interrupted, when Goddard gave the third loud bark in a short amount of time. Jimmy turned around again, a little reluctantly, and said, "Now what? I really wanna get that machine done tod-"

He stopped talking when Goddard's back opened and a mechanical hand came up which reached out and pointed at something on the map at the screen. Jimmy drew closer to it for the second time and spotted a group of islands he hadn't thought of before. He swallowed hard as he saw that the potential tsunami the earthquake would make would most likely drown all of the small islands or at least cause major damage.

One of those islands was named Mauritius.

Jimmy sat down in a chair and ran a hand through his hair. "I should do something, right?" he asked, a little concerned, and Goddard tilted his head slightly. "But then again, why should I?" He suddenly stood up and changed the tone of his voice. "She'll find out as soon as the experts find out, and it'll be all over the news, in both papers and on television. If it's correct, of course! Because there's always a chance that my sensor's wrong. And I don't wanna go all the way to Southern Asia to tell Cindy about something she's not even going to believe. And if she does believe it and it doesn't happen, I bet she's going to get revenge for ruining her vacation, or something. No way I'm going down there! I don't owe her anything!"

- flashback -

Cindy was sitting in a garden chair outside her house playing with a yo-yo. It was a beautiful summer's day, perfect for playing in the park with friends, but this young girl was bored. Most of her friends were gone on vacation, her parents was busy at work or in the house, and considering that this day was her sixth birthday she was extra disappointed that she had no one to hang out with. Her mother had promised her that she would make her favorite food for dinner that evening, and she had already had a big celebration with loads of children from the neighborhood earlier that summer, but she still felt a little lonely as she stood up and placed the yo-yo down at the chair.

She went through the house, called to her mother that she was heading out, and walked outside on the other side. She closed the front door behind her after she had assured her mother that she wouldn't go too far, and started walking down the street. She didn't know what her destination was. After all, all of her closest friends were out of town.

There still was one person that she knew was home, but he wasn't really her friend. And if she happened to pass by his house, it was only to make fun of him and whatever he was doing… Nothing else…

After a while she found herself outside the Neutron's residence, without really knowing when she had decided to go there. When she stood there, staring at the light blue façade, she heard some faint thuds from the backyard. Her curiosity made her turn the house corner warily, as she followed the sounds.

In the backyard the young boy genius was working on one of his very first inventions; a machine that was supposed to make it possible for people to travel through time. He hadn't had much luck with it until now, but today he had had a breakthrough after reading something in a book and he was sure that if he only got to fix that one simple thing, it would work. He was so concentrated on doing that task, that he didn't notice the girl who was examining him and the round black machine from one of the house corners.

"Well well," Cindy said as she was walking towards Jimmy who jumped of the unexpected sound. "What have we here? Another one of your so-called inventions? You know, a six-year-old isn't supposed to be able to make things like this. There must be something seriously wrong with you."

"Vortex?" Jimmy turned skeptically to face her. "What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be home getting spoiled because of your birthday?"

"Right, Nerdtron," Cindy said and rolled her eyes. "You know I've already had a party."

"Okay…" Jimmy turned indifferently back to the hatch on the side of the machine. "You're here because you have no one to play with, right?"

"Of course," she said in an obvious tone. "Do you really think I would come here if some of my friends were home, Spewtron?" Jimmy turned to her with an incredulous glare when he heard the new replacement for the usual 'Nerdtron', but she just widened her eyes a little and smirked. "Spewtron? Hey, that was actually kinda good," she commented, more to herself than to him.

Jimmy sighed, shook his head and turned once again towards the machine.

"So what is it?" Cindy moved closer to him to see what he was doing. "What does it do?"

"It's a time machine," Jimmy mumbled without taking his eyes away from what he was doing.

"A time machine?" Cindy exclaimed and burst out in high-pitched laughter. "Really? Don't tell me it actually works?" She started to walk around the machine, looking at all of the buttons, still laughing. "Hey Neutron, if I push any of these, will we end up in the Middle Ages then?" She pushed several of them, but nothing happened. "Hah, I knew it! It doesn't react at all!"

"That's because-" Jimmy started before he got cut off by Cindy who had noticed a switch higher up on the machine.

"Hey, what's this?" she asked as she held her hand up and pointed at it with her index finger.

"No!" Jimmy stood up quickly and dashed forward. "Don't touch that!" But it was of course too late, and Cindy had already managed to flip it. She still had a smirk across her face, but when the machine started to make a high rotating sound while vibrating slightly, it disappeared swiftly.

Jimmy swallowed hard. The machine wasn't done yet, so he had no idea of what it would do. He didn't have to wait long to get the answer though, because after a loud crash and a flash of bright light, both of them felt like they were swirling through the air before they found themselves on the ground in an area that looked nothing like Jimmy's backyard.

- end of flashback -

Cindy opened her eyes slowly, wondering why her thoughts had drifted off to something that happened almost a decade ago. She had a good idea though, because it had definitely something to do with that song she had heard earlier, when she and her parents passed that bar on their way back to the hotel after eating dinner at some restaurant. The chorus had been sat on repeat in her head ever since.

I just hate you for it
Hate you for makin' me fall in love
And there's nothing I can do about it
So blue about it
Don't wanna be in love

Cindy didn't have that many clear memories from her first years of life, but that particular birthday was like burned into her head. It was when she first discovered that her hate towards Jimmy wasn't because she disliked him or anything like that, but because she couldn't be with him. That day she realized that deep inside her she had something special for him and because she was so young, she had used to think of it as something she felt for a very good friend or maybe a brother.

But as she grew up she learned that it was much more than that. She now knew that what she felt for the teen genius was love, like fate had in some bizarre way decided that they were meant to be right from the day they were born.

Cindy shook her head a little when she noticed where her thoughts were heading and scolded herself mentally for being such a hopelessly romantic. The truth was that she wanted to hide these feelings somewhere so deep inside that no one could ever find them again. But that wasn't supposed to be so easy…

Cindy looked around the area she was sitting in, while softly humming the melody of the song that was playing in her head. It was the hotel's poolside bar, where you every evening could enjoy live music or karaoke, so no one could hear her even if she started to sing the words out quietly. Not even her parents, who were sitting at the same table as her.

Cindy sighed as she understood that going on vacation with her parents wasn't that much fun anymore. Sure, she had hung around the poolside bar every night since they arrived four days ago, but tonight she noticed that it was a bit boring not having Oliver around to joke and laugh at people who couldn't sing with.

She wondered what she would've done if she hadn't accidentally bumped into Oliver Masterson, a 17 year old boy from New Jersey, while she was standing in line to get some ice cream on the first day. Having a friend at the hotel turned out to be positive in many ways. She had someone to hang out with and to talk to, an excuse to leave her parents from time to time, and although he didn't know about it, he often helped her getting her thoughts of Jimmy for a while.

But this day Oliver and his parents had gone to the other side of the island, and they were probably not home yet. Cindy sighed once more as she felt that she was starting to get a headache. This was supposed to be a vacation but as soon she was alone or bored her thoughts automatically drifted off to that idiot. She couldn't believe that even if he was halfway around the world, he still managed to get on her nerves.

"Listen," she suddenly said loudly so that her parents would hear her through the music. "I'm not feeling well. I'll head for the apartment and go to bed." She slid forward in the chair, so that she was sitting on the edge and pointed her thumb casually in the direction of where they were living.

"How are you not feeling well?" her mother asked and gave her a quick concerned look. "Do you want me to follow you?"

"It's just a headache," she answered hastily. "And I'll be fine on my own. Just stay here and enjoy yourselves!"

"Are you sure you don't want me to follow you?" Her mother inquired a last time, as Cindy stood up.

"Yes, I'm sure."

"The way isn't that long, Marissa," Cindy's father cut in. "And besides, it's inside the hotel's area."

After getting the room keys from her parents, Cindy finally managed to get herself out on the path that lead to the apartment. It was dark, but the moonlight lit up enough to see where she was stepping.

"Cindy?"

Cindy stopped dead in her tracks and widened her eyes. Someone had said her name and that voice seemed very familiar. She turned swiftly to take a good look around her, but the darkness made it difficult. She shook her head and decided that there was no one there, and that she had just imagined it.

"Cindy…"

She twirled around and gazed into the darkness. She was sure that she had heard someone this time. Someone who sounded awfully much like Jimmy. Either that or she had gone completely mad with the whole Neutron deal and was starting to hear his voice, even when he was miles away. Because he was miles away, right?

Cindy could now vaguely see a figure approaching… A figure she knew too well.

"Neutron?" she exclaimed incredulously. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Calm down," he hissed while looking warily around at the apartment buildings around them, thinking that there were probably people sleeping inside them. "I'm saving your life," he finally told her, perhaps a little too boldly.

"Yeah right," Cindy scoffed sarcastically and folded her arms over her chest. "Coming here to mess up my holiday is sure gonna save my life."

"I'm not gonna mess up your holiday, Vortex," Jimmy said and returned the glare she gave him. "I'm just gonna. . .give you a warning."

"The only warning I need is the one about you coming here," Cindy retorted. "I'm supposed to be having a vacation, Neutron! Vacation from things like school and stress and you."

"Do you really think I came all the way down here just to bother you?" Jimmy asked her sincerely, and continued when Cindy just looked at him like she didn't find anything smart to say. "The least you could do is hear me out."

"Fine, go on," she gave in. "What is it that you want to warn me about?"

"Well," Jimmy started, narrowing his eyes slightly at Cindy as if expecting her to interrupt him any minute. "My Earth Activity Sensor has shown lately that a great underwater earthquake in the Indian Ocean is approaching. Which means that this island is in danger of getting drowned."

Cindy stared at him for a short while, without saying anything. She was considering the thing he had said very carefully. She didn't really want to believe it because that meant that she would have to leave the island, and she would also have to admit to Jimmy that she thought he was right. On the other hand, if it did turn out to be true, it would be a great benefit to be prepared and get away before it happened.

"So you're saying that a tsunami is gonna hit Mauritius in one of the next few days?" Cindy finally asked, giving Jimmy a skeptical look.

"Yes," he answered. "Along with the rest of the islands in this area."

"And you expect me to believe that?" Cindy raised an eyebrow at him, still with her arms crossed over her chest.

"No, that's up to you," Jimmy said indifferently. "But I hope that me coming all the way down here to tell you means something."

"Why did you?" Cindy suddenly inquired, not quite so unwillingly as before.

"Huh?" He looked at her.

"Come all the way down here to tell me," Cindy explained quickly, and Jimmy got an unreadable expression on his face.

"I think," he suddenly said in an amazingly serious tone of voice, as he looked her straight in the eye. "We both know why I'm here."

Cindy gazed astonished back at him, but then she nodded her head slightly and looked away. Jimmy also removed his gaze and it got awkwardly silent. The only things that could be heard were the breeze in the palms, the faint music from the poolside bar, and the distant soft sounds from the ocean against the beach. Cindy's thoughts drifted off to that faithful day that she had been thinking of earlier, and she knew that Jimmy's had too. All of a sudden Jimmy took a step closer to Cindy and pulled something out of one of his pockets.

"Here," he simply said and held an advanced wristwatch in front of her. "I made you this so you wouldn't have to decide whether you want to believe me or not right away."

"What is it?" Cindy asked as she stared down at it.

"It's a watch that you can contact me with," Jimmy answered quickly. "If there is something, anything, just push this button and I'll be there as soon as possible. I've designed this way," he explained as he kept pointing at the little button and the frame around it. "So it's not so easy to push it by accident."

"How would you know where I am?" Cindy went on staring suspiciously down at it.

"This watch has a sender," Jimmy continued. "I can see exactly where it is on a map on my watch."

"Does this mean you're going to stay at Mauritius?" Cindy asked skeptically.

"Well, yeah," Jimmy said hesitantly. "But only till the danger is over."

"Right, and you'll know my whereabouts at all hours just by looking at your watch?" The smug but annoyed expression had appeared on Cindy's face.

"No," Jimmy said irritated. "I'll only know your whereabouts when you push this button."

Cindy got quiet for a while and observed him through narrow eyes. Jimmy held the watch closer to her but she raised her hands and shoved his hand away.

"No way!" She shook her head and turned to continue along the path. Jimmy stepped forward immediately, grabbed her upper arm and spun her around so that she was facing him again. Her cocky expression vanished as she saw Jimmy's listen-to-me-or-else-look. She leant backwards somewhat and swallowed as he stepped even closer to her. When he saw her staring a little puzzled up at him with wide emerald eyes, his glare softened.

"Just take it," Jimmy mumbled as he shook the watch slightly in front of her. "Trust me!"

Author's Note: I know that there's not much happening in this chapter either, but it's all a part of the introduction… And you got to know a little more about what has happened in the past… Another thing is that I fear that I have given them a little too grown up personality when they were six, but Jimmy's supposed to be a boy genius and Cindy is smart as well, so maybe that's not a big problem after all?

Please leave me a line if you're interested in more! ;) It's always great to hear your opinions!

NeT: Thanx and thank you for reviewing... :)

acosta pérez josé ramiro: Well, I had been working on the chapter for a while and I guess that I was afraid that it might be a little unexciting since I had read through it so many times… But if you didn't found it boring, that's great... :) Thanx for reviewing!

CindyVortex9: That's good to hear, and thank you for reviewing... :)

Madame Pink: Really? You're too kind… Thank you very much! ;)

ReddistheRose: Hehe… Yeah, he is, isn't he? Then everything is as usual, right…? ;) Thanx for reviewing and I hope you didn't found this chapter too uninteresting…?