the ending is camaraderie not shipping. please don't get it twisted :) and sorry about that really somber moment coming up there...

Cindy knocked on the door and waited nervously. Libby looked at her and put her hand on her friend's shoulder.

"Girl, calm down. I'm the one that should be nervous, not you."

"This is a little different for me."

The door opened and Cindy smiled a little.

"Hey, Mr. Estevez…"

"Oh, Cindy, hola."

"Hola… Um, is Sheen around? We wanted to talk to him."

Mr. Estevez seemed a little distraught as he leaned tiredly on the door jamb.

"I'm sorry girls, but he's not here. I don't know where he's gone, actually."

Libby's eyes widened a little. "He didn't say where he was going?"

Mr. Estevez shrugged. "He never came home from school."

"And that doesn't bother you?"

"He's been odd since he came back from this last clinic. We get into a lot of fights now (more than usual) but I've gotten used to him walking out of the house at night and not coming home until a couple hours -or sometimes days- later. I am worried though; this is the longest he's never come back."

"When did you last see him?"

"About a couple weeks ago. We were having a halfway decent day that day, so I remember it well."

"I see…"

"If you do see him, tell him I'm not mad and that he can come home."

"Will do, Mr. Estevez." Libby said quickly as Cindy left her behind.

She ran to catch up to her.

"Why'd you leave me like that?"

"Something is wrong."

"You've been saying that for days now. What in the world are you talking about?"

"Jimmy is acting weird and now Sheen's missing?"

"Girl, that boy goes missing all the time."

"Not like this. Even you have to admit that this is a pretty long stretch even for Sheen."

Libby sighed. "Yeah, I guess so… Well then what are you going to do about it? I mean, Jimmy seems normal to me, what makes you think he's different?"

Cindy made a face at her friend. "Because I know him like I know my own self. You were once like that with Sheen."

Libby looked away. "I still am."

Cindy was actually surprised. "Do you… do you still have feelings for him?"

Libby rubbed her arm for a second.

"Every time he comes back, I get a hitch in my heart for him. I mean, we dated since the last part of elementary school into the seventh grade. He was a part of my life at the most vulnerable time of it, so he's hard to forget. And we were off and on so much due to his medication and the institutes and clinics… He had wanted to be his carefree Ultralord-loving self again, not a zombie or sick or angry… There were a lot of trials that we went through before he finally told me he couldn't do it anymore."

"What do you mean? I thought you said that you broke it off?"

Libby shook her head. "Sheen did. He begged me to. He said that it wasn't fair that I had to worry about someone like him. I told him that I worried because I knew he wasn't crazy, just like the rest of us knew, but he said it was a moot point to try. His father and the other adults all believed that he was and there was nothing any of us 'kids' were going to do to make them believe otherwise. He said his father was getting angry anyway because he felt like us kids were just fueling this illusion. He didn't want to hurt me anymore than he was, and we weren't even in high school yet! All that drama… So, he told me to tell everyone I broke it off to save face…

"But I believe you when you say you know Jimmy because I know Sheen. And you're right, this isn't like him, medicine induced or not."

Cindy never knew that her friend was harboring so much hurt and she pulled Libby to her, hugging her hard.

"I'm so sorry, Libs, I had no idea."

"It's okay, I just hope for the best."

"What about Carl?"

"Carl is dense at times but I think he knew even before he asked me out what he was getting into. He's sweet and understanding, which is what I like about him. He knows I haven't stopped loving Sheen."

"Are you sure? I mean, boys are pretty dense in themselves, not just in particular."

"We've talked about it before; not in depth, but I couldn't keep my emotions at bay all the time, especially when Sheen was going through the bad runs."

"Yeah… Well, come on, I want to try this thing out."

"What thing?"

"This gadget that Timmy sent me. He said it glows if the real Jimmy isn't here."

Libby lifted an eyebrow. "Okay, now you've lost me."

Cindy sighed heavily and pulled out the remote that Timmy had wished to her.

"When I said I think that something is wrong, I mean that I don't think Jimmy is Jimmy."

"I would say that's impossible but it's Jimmy we're talking about."

"Exactly. I don't think the Jimmy we're seeing is the real one. There's too many holes… so, Timmy sent this thing and said that if it wasn't the real Jimmy, it would glow red and vibrate."

Libby made a face. "Are you sure that's a detector?"

"Libby." She said with a smirk.

"I'm just saying…"

They laughed as they headed to Jimmy's house.

As Judy put out food on the table, Jimmy was doing something on a device in his hand and Judy cleared her throat.

"Jimmy, what have I said about gadgets at the table?"

"Sorry, Mom, I'm just calibrating a few things…" he said, closing it up and putting it away.

She nodded and they began to eat. Jimmy seemed to be eating pretty normal, which was odd considering he was eating at lightning speed and usually had a heaping plate of whatever was cooked. She decided to ask him outright.

"Jimmy, I know it's not really my business, but… you still have your baby, right?"

Jimmy stopped eating for a second and then smiled. "Of course I do, Mom."

"Well, it's just that I know you're pretty far along but I don't see it on you."

"Oh, that's because I made this spray stuff that goes on my shirts and renders it invisible. I mean, it would be so embarrassing to go to school as a pregnant guy, right?"

Judy nodded. "I guess that's true."

"Don't worry, Mom, I would never get rid of it. After all, it's my mistake."

Judy made a face but the action was plausible… except it didn't seem that way. Something was off…

Cindy and Libby stared at the remote in their hands as it glowed bright red and was vibrating uncontrollably. They were under the window of Jimmy's house and they hadn't even got halfway across the yard before it started glowing. They look at each other and Cindy gulped.

"He's not Jimmy."

"Then where is Jimmy?"

The throbbing pain in his temple was anything but kind and the dots in his eyesight were quite annoying, but unavoidable. He'd been laying like this for a day or two, not wanting to move because it hurt so much. Luckily, James had been kind and didn't touch his gravid stomach, but the thing inside was distraught, seeming frightened at the trauma its host had suffered. It was moving about inside of him but Jimmy didn't really care. He was hurting immensely and the slight concussion he had received was not helping him out. It was a Level 2, a hospital concussion; Jimmy knew that. He looked up so many symptoms and issues from encyclopedias and WebMD that he practically was his own encyclopedia. As soon as he lost consciousness and felt the throbbing headache afterward, he knew he was in trouble.

But he dared not move. He could hear constant fighting and snarling and crazy laughter from the other room but he would not get up. If James was waiting for him, he didn't want to anger him or give him anymore pleasure than what his sick mind was given. It was hard to breathe through the bloody nose and the gag in his mouth, his shoulders were aching from being turned to hold his wrists behind his back. There was a bad cut on his leg from where he tripped and scraped his leg but if he had to, he could move.

A crash of glass suddenly jolted his consciousness awake for a few seconds, since it had been starting to slip. A thud echoed in his prison and the sound of panting was prevalent. A grunt made Jimmy tense, sending pain everywhere.

"Jimmy?" he heard softly.

He didn't say anything as he heard someone running to him. He could make out Sheen as he stared down at him. He was worse shape than he was and if he could, he would have laughed.

"Jimmy, are you alright? Here, let me get this off…"

He moved the gag, making it ten times easier to breathe, then he felt the binds on his wrists loosen and he immediately pulled his arm over his side.

"Can you hear me?" Jimmy nodded just enough. "Nick is passed out. We have to get out of here now. Don't worry, I'll carry you. We don't have much time though. I know I threw him pretty hard but he's like a cockroach and keeps getting back up."

He felt Sheen pick him up bridal style and then buckle under his weight and his own weakness.

"Shit… I'll have to turn again… All this turning is going to give me an aneurysm…" he mumbled to himself.

Jimmy wanted to laugh at the fact that Sheen even knew what an aneurysm was but kept it to himself as he felt Sheen lift him again, this time with strong muscular arms that were covered in fur. It was safe, Jimmy knew, and he held onto Sheen as they ran out and his consciousness finally faded.

so yay, they got out! who will they go to? will they be alright? who knows...