hospital thing will be explained later - you'll see what i mean

"What are you going to do? I mean, if that's not Jimmy then where is he?" Libby asked Cindy at the table of the Candy Bar.

"I… I don't know… I mean, I didn't really think it was true but if that's not Jimmy then who is he?"

"I guess that would be a better question, wouldn't it…"

"Here you go girls, two root beer floats. Can I get you anything else?" the balding owner asked.

"No thanks." He left and Cindy frowned at her drink. "Man, I wish one of our parents' weren't home so that we could get a real beer. This is too stressful for just some dumb root beer float." she grumbled, although she sipped heavily from the drink in front of her.

"You can say that again. Two Jimmys, one fake Jimmy, a missing Sheen. It's all too much."

Cindy sighed and sipped on her float, still trying to figure out how she didn't catch on sooner. Now that she thought back on some conversations, she could tell they were not the same as they were before. He seemed distant and aloof, not wanting to be with any of them and oddly close to Nick all of a sudden.

Nick had seemed to suddenly change too. He was a little over the top in his presentation but he seemed to be pushing himself to do things rather than just be natural. That and he always had a bruise somewhere, as if he were getting beaten up. Not that Cindy really cared but she had to wonder if the two were connected…

"Anyway, maybe if we find the real Jimmy we'll find Sheen as well." she said to Libby, who was texting on her phone.

"I'm hoping that too. Carl said that he thinks Sheen and Jimmy's disappearance are connected."

"You told Carl?" Cindy whined, rolling her eyes. "Libby…"

"What? Carl isn't like he used to be in regards to secrets and stuff. After he told one of my secrets I made sure he would never do it again." she said with a smirk.

Cindy rolled her eyes but remembered the incident and she was right, he wouldn't say anything after that.

"Plus, he's Sheen and Jimmy's best friend, he should know that the reason his friend has been acting weird is because he's not himself and not because he didn't like Carl anymore. He may have gotten tougher, but Carl's still sensitive."

"So, what can we do now?"

"Maybe we can sneak into Jimmy's lab and see if he's got something. I mean, is it still accessible by DNA?"

"Yeah but it's inside the house now. I can't just go in there without permission and get in. I mean, he may have a backdoor or something but I didn't see one when I scoped out the place."

Libby made a face. "Sometimes I'm not sure if you're crazy or just really into what you do."

"Sometimes I'm not sure either."

They talked discursively for a bit and then headed back home.

On the way back home, they turned the corner to go to Cindy's house when they saw something on her lawn. Thinking it was a pile of leaves or the trash for the next day, the two didn't think too much of it until they got closer. Libby gasped and pointed.

"OMG! There's a naked guy on your lawn!"

Cindy made a face and squinted, sure enough seeing the bare back of someone on her lawn. By the looks of it, they were male and Cindy clenched her fists at her side.

"What the hell?! Hey, get off of my lawn!"

They didn't move and the two tromped over to the person, Cindy ready to strike. When they got close enough, Cindy put her foot on the person, shaking them, and was about to yell at them when a feral snarl came from the man's direction. Cindy quickly took her foot off of him as he turned to her, eyes seeming to glow with strict intensity. Libby gasped as she recognized who it was.

"Sheen?"

He seemed out of it and very confused and when Libby tried to approach him, he snarled again. She stopped and looked at Cindy.

"What is going on?"

Cindy watched him for a moment and for some reason got the feeling she got when she used to have Humphrey when he would be protective over his toys or food. She walked slowly to him and he set his eyes on her, a feral look in them. She held out her hand to him.

"Easy, Sheen… Whatcha got there? What are you trying to protect?"

"What are you *doing*?!" Libby hissed.

"I think he's protecting something. Like a dog protects his food or its young. Humphrey used to do this all the time."

"Girl, that's a boy, not a dog. He's obviously lost it."

A moan let out and they looked at each other as Sheen seemed to bow up, trying to look bigger and his glare became more deadly. Cindy could tell now that he was protecting something. She would have to talk him down to get him to trust her.

"Sheen, it's me, Cindy. Remember? I'm Jimmy's friend… girlfriend… You guys used to set girl eating plants in front of my house and Jimmy and I would always fight. I'm your friend too…"

Talking smoothly and walking slowly towards him, she was in reach of him. She held out her hand and he seemed to sniff at it. Even though the situation was odd in itself, having him *actually* sniff like a dog did cause her some concern. The growling she could understand, especially if he was in a foggy mental state, but the sniffing and seemingly dog-like behavior did have her wondering.

Seeming to deem her trustworthy, Sheen moved his legs, revealing another pair, one with a cut on it, and moved a little so that Cindy could see what he was protecting. She gasped and knelt beside him.

"Libby, it's Jimmy."

"Jimmy?" she said, confused as she went towards her friend. Upon seeing him, she frowned. "What is wrong with his stomach? It looks like he's… he's like five months pregnant."

The disdain in her voice made Sheen throw himself back over Jimmy, snarling impressively at Libby. Cindy jumped and glared at her friend.

"Liberty."

Libby blinked in surprise. "Cynthia."

"Seriously?"

"Well aren't you a bit curious?!"

"We're trying to gain Sheen's trust to look at Jimmy, not make him doubt us." Libby rolled her eyes as Cindy looked back at Sheen. "It's okay, Sheen. I just want to make sure Jimmy's okay-"

Jimmy moaned and opened his eyes a little, looking at Cindy.

"Cindy?" he mumbled.

Upon seeing that Jimmy recognized her, Sheen moved off of him and Cindy immediately bent down to her friend, touching his face.

"Oh my god, Jimmy, are you alright?"

"Concussion…" he said, lolling his head. "Sheen? Where's Sheen?"

"He's right-" Libby looked around and then back at them. "He's gone!"

"Not to be a jerk about anything but we need to get you help." Cindy said to Jimmy.

"No, Sheen was shot in the arm…"

"Well he's long gone now. Libby, help me get him up."

"Hospital… I need to go to the hospital…" he murmured.

"Not right now you're not. What will they say if they see you like this? I don't know any details but if this is what I think it is, then they will try to hurt you."

She picked up the front half of Jimmy while Libby got the other as Jimmy lolled his head back and forth.

"No… concussion… I have to go…"

"Cindy, I think you should do as the man says."

"We can't. Not right now… I'll call his mom and see if she knows anything about this."

"If she was with the other Jimmy then what makes you think she'll believe us when we say we have Jimmy with us with a concussion and heavily pregnant?" Libby growled.

"We can't just give him to the hospital. Whoever did this, taking Jimmy, will know he's there and could do something worse. They could try and kill him or rip this baby from him… or whatever it is. I know it sounds stupid but we have to have a plan first or this will just be a liability. Besides, we need to find Sheen too. Jimmy said that he was shot."

"Oh now Sheen matters?" Libby snapped.

"He seemed fine enough to leave Jimmy to us so he isn't that high of a priority but I mean, he was shot… Wonder where he went…"

"I hope he went home."

"And Mr. Estevez will take care of him? He didn't care the last time Sheen left. And you saw how Sheen was acting. Something's not right about him."

"There was never anything right about Sheen." Libby grunted as they carried Jimmy up the porch steps.

"That's not what I meant!" Cindy grunted back, hauling the overly heavy boy as carefully as she could. "Jeez, Neutron, lay off the Purple Flurp will ya!"

His only response was a moan.

"Whatever the case," Libby said, re-positioning her arms around Jimmy's legs. "I just hope he's safe."

"Me too."

Pain… Pain… All he felt was pain. It was radiating his arm and through his body. He just wanted the pain to go away. He knew Jimmy was safe now, somehow, but his foggy mind was not caring about anything at the time. All Sheen wanted was the pain to stop. He had turned human after getting shot in the arm but the stinging and aching pain still ran through him. It was getting harder and harder to stand and he was getting cold and hot from the fever and the brisk night. He thought he'd knocked Nick out completely but he was wrong. Wherever they had been was on the outskirts of Retroville; he remembered smelling salt so perhaps by the harbor?

It didn't matter now. He saved Jimmy and got him somewhere safe. He finally spotted the door and practically fell up the three small steps to the door. He leaned on the doorjamb holding his arm, his strength pretty much sapped and his mind beginning to get hazy. He was in between thoughts of his Lycan instincts and his human instincts, both telling him to run and both telling him to stay. He knew that he'd be alright, but would he?

He slowly and painfully reached up to the door knocker and knocked on the door. Maybe if he just saw, he'd understand… I want him to understand… he thought as his eyes fluttered as he struggled to stay awake. The hallway light finally shown in the small window and the door opened.

"Ai Dios mio…"

"Papa, por favor no me apartase…" he said, shaking as the blood loss began to catch up with him.

Mr. Estevez looked over his son -naked, bruised, bloody, and weak. He opened the door a little more and held out his arms to Sheen to catch him.

"Nunca haria eso. Venir dentro de mi hijo."

Sheen fell into his father's arms as Mr. Estevez helped him to his room.

i've kind of made mr. estevez (or franco, as i've named him) to be the villain of sheens life in regards to making him go to clinics and stuff to stop being weird but franco is only scared for his son and wants him to live a normal life. his way of going about it was wrong but he's not a bad guy. sheen still knows deep down, as seen here, that his father loves him but now the question is can he tell him he's a werewolf?

TRANSLATIONS: (provided by google translate, please don't hate if not exactly accurate :\)

ai dios mio - oh my god

papa por favor no me apartase - dad please don't send me away

nunca haria eso. venir dentro de mi hijo - i would never do that. come inside my son