A/N: Ah, one review, and it wasn't even technically a review, just some comment, but I will answer you, regardless.

The J.A.M. a.k.a. Numbuh i: This is a one-shot series, dude. Did you not even read the author's notes? Probably not. If you wanted me to write a one-shot where they return to the island, you could have asked. I still might, anyway, since some of the stories I have read about such a thing weren't exactly... the best. But good news for you, this one-shot actually has them on the island in an AU I like to imagine. Regardless, though, it's like you didn't comprehend what I had written for the first story. It took place AFTER SEASON 4 (the one in my head), there would be no reason for them to return to the island! They wouldn't have in canon, you know.

*Sigh* Anyway, on to this one-shot. This is mostly Jimmy's POV since it focuses on him.

Story 2: My Biggest Fear

A year. They had been stuck on this island a whole year, now.

Well, technically, it was ten months, fifteen days, thirty-nine hours, twenty-five minutes, and fifty-two seconds, but he had stopped being technical about such things months ago. Time had no meaning anymore to the two of them.

Jimmy sighed as he stared out into the horizon, the waves of the ocean lapping against his feet as he sat in the sand, his legs drawn up to his chest. Do not get him wrong, he quite enjoyed their time spent alone together, free from the pressures of society and a constraining life schedule. It was a life of leisure he never thought he would get, or even imagine having, but on the other hand...

He really missed his parents, Carl, Sheen, and Goddard most of all. Goddard had been, and will forever be, his greatest creation. Jimmy had made him when he was five years old for the sole purpose of having a friend and companion. Just so that he would not be lonely.

It was no secret to anyone that he did not have friends for the longest time, and in fact, did not become best friends with Carl until he was seven. The young genius still did not know what drew him to be friends with the hefty, red-headed boy with the IQ of a goldfish (which is what he thought of him at the time, but he knew Carl was smart in other ways nowadays, despite his rather unique interests), but he would forever be glad for his friendship.

Jimmy had been rather shy, elusive, and, he admitted to himself, extremely cocky. He had thought of himself above everyone else to the point he refused to interact with other kids his age. It was only his friendship with Carl that had managed to mellow him out a bit. Oh, he had certainly retained his cockiness, but that had dissipated to the point of non-existence rather recently.

When Sheen started coming into the picture not too long after that, Jimmy started opening up even more. Though, to this day, he still does not understand how Sheen managed to worm his way into his and Carl's circle of friendship. It had been a rather gradual thing, to be sure, as the hyperactive, ADHD-ridden boy just started hanging with them more and more often of his own volition. It eventually coalesced into the three of them becoming close best friends who were inseparable.

Sure, they could be highly annoying sometimes, but... scratch that, most of the time, but they were his best friends, they had tolerated him and got to know him like no one else until recently.

God, he missed them so much.

Ugh, when did he start to become so sappy and emotional? Jimmy rubbed at his eyes with a grunt, trying to force the tears away. Perhaps being forced into living together with no one else but a female was getting to him.

Speaking of which... he and the boys had started including Libby and Cindy into their little circle every once in a while, much to his annoyance at the time. Libby was usually alright and tolerable to be around, but Cindy... Cindy got to him in a way no one else could. She annoyed the heck out of him, made fun of him, constantly argued with him, and just generally made herself a nuisance to the boy genius.

'But...,' he thought with a smile as he drew circles in the sand with his index finger, 'I wouldn't change it for the world.'

The year they had been stuck together for had changed the two of them for the better, he knew. They had become inseparable, much like his friendship with Carl and Sheen, but so much more. She understood him in a way no one, not even his parents, could, and vice versa. They often just laid under the canopy of stars at night talking to one another about themselves, from their dreams, to their hopes, their fears, and just about everything they could think of. Well, Jimmy had yet to admit his biggest fear to her, but he would soon. He just had not found the right time to. He had always been ashamed of his fear, which is why he kept it to himself, but he figured getting it out in the open would make him feel better about it.

At any rate, the blond girl that used to fight with him on an almost daily basis had become his best best friend and dare he say... lover. Jimmy blushed but grinned happily as he thought about their current relationship. It was hard to ignore your feelings for someone when you literally spent every waking hour, and even more recently, every sleeping hour with said person.

Jimmy had never believed in the concept of soulmates as it had no scientific basis in reality, but in this one case, he would believe it. It was as if the two of them were made for one another, but the pressures of life back home had kept them from fully realizing such a thing. He did not know when, or if, they would leave this little island getaway, but Jimmy truly did not want to go back to the way things used to be. He did not know if he even could, if he was being honest with himself.

For once in his young life, he was truly happy, and he would grasp on to that with every little ounce of strength he had. Which, these days, was quite a lot.

Not much to do on an island with all the time in the world except work on your physique, after all. Well, aside from having fun and surviving, of course.

A body sitting next to him drew his attention away from his thoughts. He tilted his head a bit and looked down at the only person it could be: Cindy.

Oh, did he forget to mention he now dwarfed her in height by several inches? Puberty had smacked them in the face in the past few months like a freight train, and to say it sucked was an understatement. It had been worse for her, though, as she did not have the modern conveniences of feminine products to help her out, but she had made do with what was around her. She had been completely embarrassed the first time she had her period, but he was more than understanding about it. After all, he knew everything about human biology and how it worked. Male and female.

They had to throw out their bed and make a new one, though, much to her mortification. It did not bother him as much as she thought it did. It was just a bed, after all.

"So, what's going through that big brain of yours now, hm?" Jimmy let out a silent chuckle.

"What makes you think anything is?"

"Because you always come to this spot when you when you want to think, perhaps?" Cindy replied, crossing her arms with a smirk. Alright, she had him pegged. He sighed as he wrapped a strong arm around her shoulders and pulled her close to him, eliciting a squeak of surprise from the blond.

"Just... thinking about things," Jimmy said, not elaborating. Cindy rolled her eyes at his answer.

"You know what I meant, Jimmy," she said with a huff. "What are you thinking about?" He sighed and acquiesced to her question.

"You know... the usual. Our friends, family, home. Us," he said, whispering the last part, but he knew she could still hear it nonetheless.

"Ah," she said simply. "I've been thinking about that, too, lately." She snuggled closer to him, feeling safe in his arms, and he tightened his grip a bit.

"I miss them, a lot," Jimmy mumbled, a frown on his face as he ran a hand gently up and down her arm. Cindy hummed in response.

"I miss our friends, but that's about it." Jimmy blinked in surprise at her admission and looked down at her with a raised eyebrow.

"You don't miss your parents, at all?" Jimmy asked with concern, and his question was answered with a derisive snort.

"Hardly! They almost never paid any attention to me, and just kept pushing me to do better, despite doing my best. Didn't help that neither one of them were ever home most of the time, leaving me to take care of myself. So no, I don't miss them," she growled in irritation, with an undercurrent of hurt that Jimmy managed to pick up on. He kissed the top of her head, which had the effect of calming her down a bit. The hurt in her voice upset him in a way he had not felt before.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know," he whispered. She had never told him about her home life much, she often skirted around the subject whenever he asked. Now he knew why.

"It's fine, it's not like I ever told you," she huffed out. They sat in silence for a few minutes, just watching the horizon together as the sun set, casting the sky and sea in a rainbow of orange, red, yellow, purple, and pink.

Jimmy had never taken the time to just enjoy the beauty of life and Earth until he got stranded on this island, without trying to analyze it all with the science of why everything happened the way it did, anyway. It was really quite peaceful, if he did say so himself.

Clearing his throat, he caught the attention of his partner. He figured dow would be as good a time as any to reveal his biggest fear, since she revealed something big about her.

"I'm glad you're here with me, Cindy," Jimmy said quietly, but with a bit of a shy smile.

"Mmm, I'm glad you're here with me, too, but what brought this on?" Cindy asked, a bit curious as she sat up from his embrace.

"It's just... I don't know how I would have fared without your presence. Even if we were still going at each other's throats, I still would have preferred that over being here by myself," Jimmy explained, feeling a bit nervous as he rubbed his arm and looked away from her.

"I'm sure you would have been fine, Jimmy, you're smart enough to survive on your own, after all," Cindy said, trying to comfort him. He shook his head in response.

"That's not it," he said softly.

"Then what is?" Cindy asked, thoroughly confused now.

"Do you know why I built Goddard in the first place?" Jimmy suddenly asked, though his heart hurt at mentioning his beloved robot dog. Cindy just blinked at the question.

"Not really, I just figured it was because you wanted a pet that would live longer than fifteen or so years. Why did you build him?" Jimmy chuckled humorously at her idea.

"If only that was the reason... no, I built him so I wouldn't ever be alone. I... I have nightmares about being by myself. They've been worse since we got stranded here," Jimmy admitted, shifting his eyes away from her. He felt her grab his hand in hers.

"Jimmy," she said softly, not knowing what to say.

"But, I wake up and look down to see you and I have to remind myself that I'm not alone, and it helps me fall back asleep," he said, still not looking at Cindy, but smiling a bit now.

"You're afraid of being alone?" Cindy asked gently, and Jimmy nodded.

"It's my biggest fear," he whispered, looking down at their clasped hands, running his thumb over the top of her hand. He grunted as she suddenly threw herself at him, hugging him tightly.

"I won't ever let you be alone if I can help it, I promise," she whispered into his ear, and his breath hitched in response. He hugged her back tightly, taking her in calming scent as he breathed deeply.

They sat there in an embrace for a few moments more before the music of the evening birds broke them out of their silence. Jimmy chuckled and stood up, pulling Cindy up with him. They both wiped the sand off of them in record time, and Jimmy held out his hand to her.

"Shall we dance to the music, Ms. Vortex?" Jimmy asked with a smile. She returned the smile and took his hand.

"I shall take you up on your offer, Mr. Neutron," she said in response, and Jimmy gently pulled her close against him as they began to sway together to their own rhythm. It was then that the young genius noticed that Cindy had her hair down, which was unusual. She typically kept it up to keep it out of her face.

"You've got your hair down," he noted to her, and he felt her shrug.

"I actually came by to ask you if you could help me cut it, it's getting to be a pain in the butt to take care of," she stated. Jimmy pouted a bit as he liked her long hair, but he could understand her predicament.

"Alright, first thing tomorrow morning, then. We'll have to see if we can find some obsidian or flint, it'll need to be sharp. If not those, then we'll need to find something we can whittle down to make sharp," Jimmy rambled off to himself. Cindy laughed at his mindless rambling.

"Sure, sure, but after that, it's your turn to clean the outhouse." Jimmy groaned aloud at that.

He hated cleaning the outhouse! He cursed the day he thought of building that infuriating toilet!

Oh well, it was better than risking a bite to the butt in a bush, he supposed. He discreetly rubbed his backside at the thought.

Well, another bite, anyway.

END

A/N: Well, there's story 2! It's one of my AUs where I imagine them being stuck on the island for about a year. I do have a follow-up one-shot to this called "Lost and Found" where Carl, Sheen, and Libby, along with Goddard, manage to find them a couple of weeks after the events of this story. But I'll write that one later.

I also have a headcanon that Jimmy's biggest fear is being alone and by himself, which you just read about.

Anywho, the next story is called "Escapology", where the two of them get stuck together in an escape room by a villain I made up for my imagined season 4. It's definitely different than these last two one-shots, that's for sure.

Also, be sure to send me one-shot ideas! Especially for Sheen and Libby, I have no idea what to write for them. Remember, though, I don't do high school or college stories, they aren't my thing and never will be.

Toodles!