Me: HI! I am pleased to announce that this chappie is up and runnin', but, that's kinda obvious, isn't it? Oh, well, I don't care! We'll (more like you) will finally figure out if Cindy lives! Also, this is the end of this fic, and the title only has to do with half the chappie.SHEEN ROX! (where'd that come from?. . .) Uh, anyway, ahem, yea. (No worries, signing up for an asylum. . .you persuasive person! You weren't supposed to know that!. . .gonna have to relocate again!. . .gah!. . .) Before I go completely insane, I'm gonna go on with the chappie! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Jimmy Neutron or anything for in this fic for that matter, except this plot, so NO COPYING! (Why would anyone want to copy this story?)
Chapter Nine: Life or Death
"How's she doing?" Jimmy asks while he whips out the antidote.
"I don't know! She was unconscious when you left and still is! JEEZ!" Libby furiously and woefully shouts.
"Pff, girls," Sheen whispered, who got a glare from the Egyptian descendent (Libby, duh).
Jimmy rolls his eyes as he gently lifts Cindy's left arm and injects the remedy from the shot, into her vein. "It should take a couple minutes before she wakes up. . .if she does wake up," Jimmy explained who was still yet trying not to even get teary.
Cindy's mother (what is her mother's name?) walks around the house impatiently waiting for Cindy to return home. She knows the. . .situation of Cindy's health condition, so she is quite worried at this point. "Cynthia Vortex, where are you?" Her mom wonders, but right when she finished speaking, the phone rang.
"Vortex residence," She answered in her "I'm-better-than-you" tone.
". . .Hey, it's Stephen," a man greeted.
"Oh. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .," her mom said.
"Is, uh, Cindy there, Sasha?" Stephen asked (I'm just coming up with a name. . .and thank you for telling me her mom's name).
". . . . . . . . . . . . .no. . . . . . . . .,"Sasha replied. "She went out with her friends. What do you want Stephen?"
"Oh, so calling automatically means I need something?" He questioned a little upset.
"We haven't communicated for, what, a year now? Have you gotten your 'air' yet? You left Cindy heartbroken, and you just waltzed on out, not even taking notice of her weeping, some father you turned out to be, so that'll be a yes, I think you want something," Sasha (Cindy's mom) scolded.
". . .I guess I deserve that, I just want to talk to Cindy. So when she comes home, call me, you know my cell. Bye," Stephen (Cindy's dad) stated, then hung up.Sasha couldn't help but slam the phone on the receiver, and then she began to cry.
It's been about fifteen minutes since the antidote was injected and Cindy still lay there without moving, and her breathing was becoming more shallow and occasional. Libby coninued to cry softly on Sheen's shoulder who was upset that his favorite UltraLord T-shirt was getting soggy, he wanted to say, "LIBBY! You're getting my favorite shirt wet! How dare you! I'm NOT taking you to the next fair!" but he didn't want to have another one of those 'discussions' with Libby again, he had nightmares. . .
Carl and Jimmy sat silently, more Carl than Jimmy, 'cause Jimmy would sniff now and then and wipe his eyes. Carl just sat there, still worried, he just didn't have that connection like Jimmy and Libby did, nor did Sheen.
"Goddard, how's. . .she. . .doing?" Jimmy inquired while trying not to cry.
Goddard scanned her and lifted his front part (what would that be called?) and showed his panel, "The antidote is laggardly making its way through her bloodstream, but once it reaches her brain, she should awaken. But, if the antidote doesn't reach her brain within the next minute, she's. . .not going to wake up." This made Libby weep as if it was fiercely raining, for Sheen's shirt was now drenched, but he still didn't want another 'discussion' with her.
45 more seconds:
Libby continues to soak Sheen's shirt, and once she realizes how wet he is, she goes and cries on Carl's shirt, who is a little weirded out.
"PLEASE tell me she's gonna live, she's a good person. . ." Libby began.
"Why must the good die young!" Sheen shouted.
"SHEEN! She's not dead! Oh. . ." Libby continued to cry on whoever's shoulder was the driest.
23 more seconds:
Everyone patiently, and frightfully waits for the blond in the emerald Chinese dress, which matches her eyes, to wake up from her slumber. Hoping that she'll wake up, for the time continues to shorten, leaving less and less time for her to have the chance to live. Goddard on his panel showed the seconds count down, which probably wasn't helpful, and also her status, as to how her heart beat and breathing and brain activity is doing.
12 more seconds:
"Can't you do anything more, Jimmy?" Libby found herself querying.
"No, if I speed up her body, it'll speed up the time of her living also, so, it's better to wait," Jimmy answered, glancing at the nine seconds left, then falling on the ground and began to give way to tears.
3 more seconds:
Everyone now began to at least tear up a little bit, everyone thinking back to when she was nice (and rotten) but bizarrely missing both of her sides, kind and dreadful.
2 more seconds:
No one could take the suspense anymore, they knew she was gonna die, so they just turned their face away from her, of course getting looks from on-lookers, but no one would call an ambulance, not that it would help.
1 more second:
. . .silence, stillness, everything hushed, not even wind passing through the trees, as if nature knew that something wasn't right, so they remained lulled.
"Ugh, dizzy. . .whoa, hello?"
Libby's tawny eyes once more grew huge (her eyes have a tendency to do that in this fic), and ceased letting tears fall upon her henna skin. She turned around then began to jump crazily all over the place, "YEAAAA! WOO HOO! FA LA LA LA, LA LA LA LA!" Libby just gets slightly frightened stares from her friends, who hadn't heard the faint voice. So, she whips each and every one of them around facing the other direction one at a time and shows them a young girl who was laggardly and woosily getting up. . .or trying to. Everyone runs up to Cindy and they all hug her quite tightly.
Cindy pulls herself out of the group hug, letting everyone fall on each other, saying, "One: One person at a time hugs me and Two: Only certain people can't hug me, such as people with soaked shirts." Carl and Sheen look down at their shirts, then laugh a little, like a "how did that get there?" laugh.
Despite what she said, they all ran up to her and hugged Cindy, who sighed a sigh that she wasn't getting the point across then shrieked from the pain of the squeezing. When everyone finally decided to let go, Cindy asked, "So, who helped Neutron to help me?" She knew he had something to do with it, he has to do with every abnormal calamity, including this one.
Nobody said anything, then Jimmy spoke up, "Libby explained everything to me, so she helped." Cindy smiled at her friend then gave her a hug, then received another tight squeeze.
"Hey! What about us, Jimmy?" Sheen shouted a tad bit exasperated.
"What did you guys do?" Jimmy wondered.
"Well, we played as a tissue for Libby, and we kept Libby company. . .oh, you mean concerning Cindy? Hmm, I can't think of anything, we just kept her melancholy friend company," Sheen explained. Everybody gaped in awe at Sheen, how did he know what melancholy means? (No offense Sheen-lovers!) Sheen goes off into deep thought, then asks, "What does melancholy mean again, Libbs?"
"It means sad, Sheen," Libby answered.
"Oh, yea, now I remember!" Sheen proudly exclaimed, not that he was the one who remembered what it meant, but he'll try to.
". . .Thank you Libby," Cindy said as she was facing her friend. Then she faced Jimmy, "Thank you, too,. . .J-Jimmy." She winced when she said his name, hoping no one would gasp, or take notice of it. She didn't want to have too much attention, surprisingly.
"Jimmy? Since when do you call him 'Jimmy'?" Nick comes walking up, apparently hostile. Everyone backs up, including Libby, to avoid swinging fists. Cindy keeps her feet planted and she states, "Since just now, you have a problem with that, Slick?"
"Yeah, how come you hang around these nerds and don't even like me? I can tell you're faking," Nick claimed, leaving the boys a little surprised. "I thought that maybe I was cool enough to get every girls attention, now, the population of Nick-Lovers went down by fifty percent!"
"Wow, since when could you do math?" Cindy teased. "Listen, Nick, I can make your life at school a living nightmare, and I have a genius here to back me up on that one." Jimmy nods seriously.
"Why don't you listen, Blondie! If you mess with my reputation, I have no problem hitting a girl!" Nick irely shouted.
"Since when could you hit accurately?" Cindy once more teased. "Pay attention, Nick, I just woke up from a very serious sleep, and I'm more irritable than usual, so back off!"
"If you were smart, you'd back off. But, it's apparent that you're as dumb as a doorpost! In fact, I think you're dumber!" Nick wrathfully picked.
Cindy's eyes narrowed and her fists tightened, her face grew vermillion red and her breathing became deeper and faster. "I have no problem with hitting a Dean!" She screeched as she flung one of her fists at his nose, causing him to fall down. "You don't know how long I've waited to do that!" She added with a victorious smile, placing one foot on his stomach and shaking her fists in glory while the others clapped.
"Now run along, before I have the urge to dislocate your shoulder!" Cindy sarcastically yelled, but Nick took it seriously, so he ran away like a little girl (no offense to those little girls). "Now, can we go home now, my mom's probably really worried!" Cindy piped up.
"I don't know what I ever saw in Nick," Libby gloomily stated. Everyone was silent as they walked to Cindy's house, making sure she didn't use up all her energy on Nick. But Jimmy, Carl and Sheen were surprised that Cindy never like Nick, it was all an act.
Once they reach the pink house, you hear coughing inside. "Oh no, Mom!" Cindy shouted as she entered the house. She enters the bathroom, with the others trailing behind, to find her mom leaned over a toilet coughing up blood. (It's part of the symptoms of tuberculosis, not nice, but it's good to know.)
"Okay, mom, grab your coat, we're gonna go to the doctor," Cindy rushed.
"I could help," Jimmy piped up. "I could make something really quick to prevent it from coming back ever again, save those doctor bills, and suffering."
Cindy rapidly went from cheerless to exuberant, "You'd really do that! Why?"
"Well, I, uh. . .because, it's simple. It's uh. . .I don't know. I just feel obliged to do so, I think it's because I feel pity," Jimmy confusingly answers.
He runs off and about five minutes later comes back with some. . .thing. He arrives to the door to the bathroom with all the kids outside. Sheen explains, "Libby was getting sick in the stomach from all the blood. So, what is it and what does it do, Jimmy?"
"It's called Immunity, and you choose a disease that exists in a person and you just give them a slight zap, and it goes through the body and detects all of the bacteria and viruses related to that disease and eliminates it," Jimmy answers.
Cindy has her hand on the door knob to the bathroom and before she opens it, she simply says, "Thank you so very much." She then opens the door, and zapsSasha who wasn't coughing up blood anymore, but just coughing like crazy (another symptom.)
Sasha, once she gains stability, points to a note on the counter which says "Stephen: (987) 654-3210". Cindy's mouth dropped and she then froze.
Libby walked up and questioned queesily, "You all right, girl?" Libby looked at the note then her mouth dropped, "Isn't Stephen you're. . .dad?" Cindy slowly nodded her head. She picked up the phone leisurely, then dialed the number.
"Stephen speaking."
"Dad?"
"Cindy. . .I'm so sorry, I promise, I'll never hurt you like that again, nor your mother. I can't come home, I'm in Nice, France (an actual place)."
"Oh. . .promise to keep in touch though, right?"
"Always."
After Cindy finally got off the phone with her dad, she found Jimmy standing about five feet away. "Uh, thanks Jimmy. I don't know how I can repay you, for everything!"
"You already did, that show with Nick, exceptionally entertaining," Jimmy stated. "So, how's your dad?"
"He's fine, he's gonna be home sometime next spring. I can't wait!" Cindy excitedly states.
"So after your mom is fine, and your dad is back in touch, I'm guessing you want to impress him again, which means you are probably going back to that being popular scheme," Jimmy forlornly guessed.
Cindy snickers a little, then replied, "I still realize that life is precious and that you shouldn't ruin a valuable thing for others just to make yours worthwhile, life I mean. So, I'm making a proposal, except this one isn't a contract, we just shake hands on it."
"What?" Jimmy wonders. The other three are standing about ten feet away wondering the same question.
Cindy sticks out her hand and asks, "Friends?"
Jimmy takes her hand and shakes it, "Friends."
Me: AIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! That's the end of the fic, la la la la la la la. . .wait, that's the end! NNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! This is cruel and unusual! While I wipe away my tears, why don't you guys (or girls) submit a review concerning my. . .I can't bring myself to say it. . .LAST CHAPPIE! There I said it! Please remember no cussing or indication of cussing, and I do accept flames. Thank you.
P.S. Is that a better ending for ya guys/girls? It's nothing romantical because One: They're still twelve and Two: None of the genres says "Romance". Well, I hope that's better, please review to tell me if it is. (For all who didn't know how it ended before, it stopped at "Always".