Hey guys, I know I haven't updated this story in a long time, but I spent a while writing this chapter, and I updated my other stories too, so I've been busy, anyway, here goes…

Disclaimer: I do not own Jimmy Neutron or any related characters, I also do not own any other copyrighted material, it belongs to the individual(s) to whom the copyright is registered. Don't sue…

Counting the Minutes

The people gathered for a final goodbye before the Neutrons left for their new home watched as the red letters of the town's former resident genius' final farewell disappeared. The message it had borne had touched all of them deeply and several had tears falling silently from their eyes. Libby pulled her eyes from the sky and looked around for her best friend. Oddly, Cindy was nowhere to be seen.

Libby however, had always known what her best friend was thinking and she headed to where she knew Cindy would be.

Sure enough, Libby found her down in the lab, her head in her arms, sitting in Jimmy's old chair. She was crying, the girl who had never before shown any kind of weakness whatsoever was crying, tears were streaming down her face and soaking her hands, her body shook with silent grief.

Libby walked over and put her arm around her. "Cind' it's gonna be fine, he'll come back, and you can visit him too."

"I-I know, i-it's just that, I've got this f-feeling that I-I'm never going to see him again." She said, her voice shaking.

"That's not true, he's comin' back, and if he doesn't I'm gonna go over there and drag him back." Libby promised. Cindy looked up and smiled slightly.

But they were both distracted by a blinking message onscreen.

1 waiting message. It read and Libby frowned slightly.

"Open message." She commanded and the computer obeyed, all of a sudden the screen was filled with an image of Jimmy sitting in his lab.

"Umm, this message if for Cindy, if you're listening to this Cind' I just want to say that I am coming back, and not to worry. Umm, what else, well…just that I love you and to tell Sheen this doesn't mean I've forgotten about our bet. Oh and try to keep Sheen and Carl from not being too depressed, tell the, they can always visit me, and that means you too." With that, the message blinked out to be replaced by a home screen.

Goddard had trotted up, unseen, next to them and licked Cindy's hand, she reached out and patted his head.

A few thousand feet in the air, Jimmy watching the lab feed on his windshield, he smiled as Libby succeeded in cheering Cindy up, good old Libs, I knew I could count on her. He thought, he had left the cameras in the lab in place so he could see his friends and was glad he had, the car's autopilot lowered it so he was only a few hundred feet above the highway below, he could see the moving truck and his parents' car as hot wheel sized miniatures down below, and a look of anger crossed his face, only to be replaced by sadness. There was a beep coming from the dashboard computer and he knew without looking for confirmation that his parents were calling. He touched the answer button on the screen and he could hear his parents talking to him.

"Jimmy dear, we were so worried, why did you do that?" His mother asked concernedly.

"Do what?" He asked, his voice cold.

"Fly off without telling us, that's what." She said, sounding as if she was about to scold him.

"Oh, that. Well, why shouldn't I, I don't want to drive with you and you don't seem to care about me, so I don't feel obligated to tell you anything." He answered, his voice full of cold fury.

"We do care about you! We're your parents James Isaac Neutron and we love you!" His mother replied, her voice angry now.

"Really, well you've got a funny way of showing it. And after you made me move, without even asking for my opinion, not even considering how I would feel about that, the only person I love right now is one of the people you made me leave behind. I love her, but you don't seem to care about that eh. No, all you care about are your own damn selves! If you really cared about me, you would've stayed, or let me stay, Carl and Sheen's parents were willing to let me live with them! But no, you had to take me with you, even though you obviously don't love me! And just know this, the day I turn eighteen, I am taking my things and leaving and going back where I belong! You can just try and make me stay, I'll respect your opinions as much as you respected mine! NOT AT ALL!" Jimmy yelled, his voice and temper rising uncontrollably.

"We-we t-thought it was best." His mother said, her voice cracking, it sounded like she was crying. "We thought t-that t-this would b-be b-best for you…" She said, now she really sounded like she was crying.

"Yeah? Well, YOU THOUGHT WRONG!" He yelled.

"You listen young man! You will apologize to your mother this instant!" His father said, angry for the first time Jimmy had ever seen or heard.

Jimmy answered by terminating the link. His face shook with rage, his hands clenched in fists.

Ten minutes later, Jimmy had taken his carry-on bag from his car and set the autopilot for the parking lot at the airport he would be landing at on the island they were moving to, he was forced to fly commercially with his parents. He walked into the airport. After waiting in line for a while, he finally got in, he paid with cash to upgrade his ticket to business class, he had taken his ticket and things from out of his parents' car. As he sat under the sign that read Gate 18, in the waiting area for boarding, reading a book, he glanced up to see his parents walking towards the area.

Jimmy stood up, slinging his carry-on over his shoulder he casually walked right by his parents, while they were searching the other side of the waiting area for him, frantic with worry.

He pulled out his cell phone and typed a text message.

Ill be on the flight don't bther looking 4 me

It read, he smiled and sent it.

In the boarding area, Judy Neutron's phone buzzed urgently. She dug it out of her purse and looked at the screen, reading her son's message.

"We'll just have to trust him. He is our son." Hugh said softly, reading over her shoulder.

"I suppose so, but he might have left." Judy said, her voice still shaking, tear stains on her shirt.

"Excuse me sir, but did you see a teenager in here, red hair, leather jacket." Hugh asked a man sitting in one of the rows, immersed in a Road and Track magazine.

"Yeah, just got up a minute ago. Went that way." The man said distractedly, glancing up and gesturing in the direction Jimmy had just taken.

"Well, this map says there aren't any exits or anything that way, just some restaurants, s-so he must still be here." Judy said, from behind her husband, looking at a map of the airport.

"We'll just have to trust him." Hugh said.

"Boarding all business class passengers for flight 18-B to Palm Island, repeat, boarding all business class passengers for flight 18-B to Palm Island." A voice said over the loudspeaker. Jimmy Neutron, wearing a black baseball hat was second in line, just as he walked out of sight down the connecting removable hallway (You know what I'm talking about) his parents ran into the boarding area, having just come from the bathrooms. They ran up and got in line as the boarding official called all economy class passengers, a particularly large couple obscuring their view of the last business class passengers boarding.

Hugh and Judy Neutron had to sit down as the plane finisished boarding and taxied onto the runway. But after they were sufficiently airborne and the Fasten Seatbelts light had gone off, Judy stood up.

"I'll look by the bathrooms, you check near the front." Hugh said, and his wife nodded. Hugh headed off, but was distracted because he actually had to use the bathroom, not that Jimmy was back there anyway.

Judy, on the other hand, had more success, she walked down the center aisle, and was going to give up, when she too had to use the restroom, rather than walk to the back of the economy class section, she decided to use the one in business class. She walked through the purple curtain that served as a divider and looked around the more luxurious business class.

As luck, whether this luck was good or bad for Jimmy, I'll let you decide, would have it, Jimmy too was heading to the bathroom and tried to hide when he saw his mother, but too late.

"Jimmy! Where were you?" Judy asked. "We were so worried."

He didn't answer, his face impassive, his expression stony.

"Why were you worried?" He asked, his tone icy.

"Well, because we care about you, we're your parents." She said, stepping forward to hug him. He sidestepped her and walked by.

"Jimmy, we're your parents, we love you. You shouldn't avoid us, we should be a loving, caring family. We love you Jimmy." She said, in a pleading voice as she turned to face him. He didn't turn, his back to her, he stopped for a moment.

"Maybe you should've thought of that before you ruined my life." He said, coldly.

"Where are you going?" She asked.

"To use the restroom." He said.

The other passengers, immersed in their mp3 players or the video playing, most with headphones on, the rest asleep, had taken no notice of this exchange, and still didn't notice when Judy turned slowly and walked over to Jimmy's seat, recognizing it by his bag underneath the chair. He didn't have anyone sitting next to him, his was the window seat, and tears fell down her cheeks as she saw what was on his comfortable chair.

Judy cried silently as she picked up a small, framed picture of him and Cindy together in the park, she was leaning up against him as they rested in the shade of a large tree. They both looked so happy, so in love, the picture must have been taken by Libby or maybe Carl or Sheen, and it broke her heart to think that it was she who had made her only son move away from the girl he so clearly loved with all his heart. She put the picture slowly back down and bent down. She reached into his carry-on bag and pulled out another picture, this one was of Jimmy, Carl and Sheen grinning and waving, they all were smiling, and her jaw quivered, more tears running down her face as she thought of how it was her who had made him move from them too, his best friends for as long as she could remember, his first and closest friends, in fact they had been his only friends until they started hanging out with Cindy and Libby tool.

She slowly replaced the picture, and stood up, she guessed their might be a picture of her and Hugh in there, but probably not, they certainly didn't deserve it, she thought sadly and she slowly returned to her seat. Jimmy stood, a row back, he had been watching the whole thing, so now she knew what she had done to him. He thought sadly. He picked up the picture of Cindy and him in the park and his heart turned over once again as he looked at it.

I'll come back, I'll visit as soon as possible and I will come back for good. He promised himself, and I'll be counting the minutes until I see you again Cindy Vortex, the love of my life.

Miles away, Cindy Vortex held the pearl he had given her so long ago, the pearl that was her most treasured possession, the pearl that she guarded with her life, the pearl that always hung on a gold chain around her neck and swore to love him forever. I know you will come back my love, she thought, and I'll be counting the minutes…

A/N: Sniff…sniff, grabs box of tissues, that was so, so, touching, the whole seen with the pictures and the last part, it killed me to write it, you have no idea…or maybe you do. So, tell me what you thought!