First of all, thanks for the few reviews I received for the first chapter. Reviews always make an author happy.

I've come to the realization that the best time I can write is when it's past midnight and I'm nearly half delirious. (Don't ask me why, I really don't know.) Unfortunately, that just makes me doomed, because I've got swim practice bright and early every morning, and that means waking up at 6:00 for a healthy dose of sleep-deprived death. Whoo!

Onto the story, then.

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Plans and Resolutions

A Ned's Declassified Fanfiction

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11:00 a.m.

The small park was alive with noise. Despite the sudden overcast skies and chilly breeze, families were huddled together, laughing and conversing in groups; kids of all ages dotted the sidewalks surrounding the playground, setting off loud firecrackers and admiring the colorful shower of displays they produced.

"Wow," Moze sighed, gazing at the orange and blue sparks shooting out of a nearby fountain. "It's so pretty, isn't it?"

Cookie turned to watch the shower of sparks as well, only slightly interested. Those fireworks were all similar – give them as many different names as you like, but every single one of the fountains spouted the same sparks in different colors, and maybe an occasional whistle here and there. It was simple pyrotechnical logic…he could easily make and manipulate better fireworks himself any day, so they didn't fascinate him much.

Instead, Cookie was much more intrigued by the way Ned's eyes seemed to linger on Moze, not the fountain, as he gave an almost inaudible response.

"Yeah…beautiful."

The moment he caught sight of amused smirk on Cookie's face, though, Ned quickly averted his attention back to the uneaten sandwich in his hand and shoved a corner into his mouth –

And immediately started choking.

Moze tore her gaze from the fountain and rolled her eyes. "Seriously, Ned, there's such a thing as 'small bites'. The sandwich isn't going to run away, y'know." She leaned over to pat his back as he continued to cough uncontrollably, eyes already watering up.

"Sand," He croaked harshly, before another coughing fit could take place. "There's sand…in the food…"

Moze raised an eyebrow to Cookie, who in turn checked the containers filled with their lunches and snacks before nodding a confirmation.

"Yup. He's right."

They were sitting on a large blanket on the grass in the middle of the park, as any traditional picnic would have it. Nearly all the restaurants and stores were closed for New Year's, they had found out, after half an hour of driving through the town and city. Of course, that meant going back to the Bigby household to grab the leftover (or more like uneaten) food from the beach party.

Apparently, as Ned's coughs died down to a mere clearing-of-the-throat, a decent lunch wasn't going to come easy today.

"So," Ned started, hitting a fist to his chest with a final cough. "First no open restaurants, and then the beach decides to come home with our only alternate meal. Anyone got any other ideas?"

Moze gave a half-hearted shrug, burying her face into the warmth of her scarf. "Nope. Cookie said he'd have the whole day planned out for us. I'm not sure if…" She trailed off, scrunching her brow in confusion as she did a double-take of the boy sitting across from her. "Cookie…what are you doing?"

The techno geek jumped and hastily dropped his hand from the side of his computer-glasses, his expression an almost exact replica of a kid caught with his hand in the "sacred candy jar".

"N-nothing!" He denied loudly, failing miserably when a bunch of miniature screens popped up one by one on his glasses lenses. His face dropped. "Well, okay, it's something, but nothing important, I swear, you guys wouldn't be interested…"

Ned and Moze exchanged skeptical looks, then nodded in silent agreement.

"You hold him down," Moze declared, "And I'll grab the glasses."

Cookie let out a strangled cry, clutching onto his glasses for dear life. "NO!" He screeched, as both Ned and Moze began to creep forward, an evil glint in their eyes. "DON'T TOUCH MY BABY!"

Suddenly, a loud "Watch out!" caused the trio to freeze in place and snap their heads to the source of the interruption, wide-eyed and bewildered. A little boy around eleven years old or so stood several yards away, frantically waving his arms in the air and yelling like a maniac; the older girl standing next to him only pointed towards the sky, a hand clasped to her mouth in a panic.

"Above you!"

Ned furrowed his brow in confusion and slowly raised his head to the sky. "Huh…?"

Without warning, a long belt of firecrackers landed onto the blanket directly in front of them.

There were several things that happened in the next few moments.

It was Cookie who reacted first. As Ned and Moze continued to stare at the explosive in some sort of daze, he scrambled backwards with a small high-pitched shriek, a hand reaching up to steady the glasses falling off his nose. He stared in disbelief at his two best friends, who still hadn't moved from their spots. This firecracker was a literal ticking time bomb, bound to explode in mere seconds…why weren't they reacting?

"NED! MOZE!" He bellowed. "It's LIGHTED!"

That seemed to snap Ned to life, and without any hesitation he lunged towards Moze, wrapping his arms securely around her midsection and causing her to gasp in surprise as he dragged them both off the blanket. Her fingers caught the edge of the material and she yanked it as hard as she could, and the containers holding their ruined lunches flew off to the side –

The firecracker was launched high into the air. But instead of landing a safer distance away, it tumbled to the ground only inches away from where Ned and Moze had fallen. The fuse continued to sizzle, eating up the already dangerously short string; Ned pulled Moze away from the firecracker and flush up against his chest, and she buried her face into the crook of his neck; they held their breath, eyes squeezed shut, waiting for the inevitable explosion –

But it never came.

Ned slowly opened an eye, arms still wrapped around Moze in a vice-like grip. He caught sight of the rope of red and immediately tensed again – only to realize that the fuse was gone. He almost didn't believe it, and he sat frozen for a few more moments, waiting for some kind of delayed blast…still nothing happened. Finally expelling the breath he'd been holding in, he took a chance and thrust out his leg, landing a kick on the firecracker dud and sending it flying to a safe distance away.

Moze's eyes flickered open when she felt Ned's chest deflate, and she slowly shifted within his embrace to stare at the spot where the firecracker had once been, visibly shaken. Her mouth opened and closed repeatedly for several seconds; she looked like a fish right out of the water.

"W…" She gasped hoarsely, finally finding her voice. "What…what the hell was that?!"

Cookie dropped to the ground, hand still clutching his glasses. "I don't know…it fell out of nowhere…but the fuse…the moment it hit the firecracker, it just…fizzled out or something…"

"I thought we were going to die!" Ned screeched, a mixture of shock and disbelief flashing through his clouded blue eyes. "All that for a stupid dud?! I almost got a heart attack!"

Cookie offered a small smile. "Well, dud or not, you protected Moze, didn't you? That's got to count for something, man."

Ned's face wiped completely blank, and he stared at Cookie for a few seconds, his mouth half-open with an already-forgotten reply.

"Um…" Moze said softly, visibly flustered as she looked away from Cookie and instead focused on Ned's arms. "Ned…you can let go now."

Ned's eyes went as wide as saucers. "OH! Right!" He dropped his arms as if he had been burnt, laughing nervously. "I know." He cleared his throat and stood up, making a big effort to dust the blades of grass and dirt off his pullover and jeans. "Sooo. What d'you guys say to getting out of here already?" He scratched the back of his neck with a weak smile. "I think maybe we've had enough fireworks for one day."

Moze immediately followed suit, grabbing the blanket and jumping to her feet a little too enthusiastically. "Good idea! Cookie, where're we off to next?"

Cookie looked between his two best friends and blinked. "Uh…"

"You know what, Cook, you can drive this time!" Ned said brightly, walking past him and slapping him on the shoulder. "You're the one with the plans, so it's probably better that way anyway, right?"

"I call shotgun again!" Moze shouted triumphantly, and she hurried past Cookie as well, keeping a noticeable distance from the boy striding along in front of her.

Cookie grinned, bending over to grab the fallen containers of food as he shook his head in amusement.

"Unbelievable."

He glanced to the sky, then back to where the two kids from earlier were now playing with some sparklers. The boy looked up at him and flashed a smile. Cookie's grin widened, and he mouthed a silent "Thanks, kid" before turning around to follow his friends.

As they reached the car, Ned suddenly jolted to a stop and turned to face Cookie, an inquisitive look on his face. Moze looked from one best friend to another in confusion as Cookie cocked his head. "What?"

Before anyone could stop him, Ned walked right up to the techno geek and swiftly pulled off his glasses. "We still never found out what you were doing on here, remember? C'mon, Moze, help me figure this thing out!"

Cookie let out a scream and dropped the containers as Moze ran up beside Ned and pulled one side of the glasses into her grasp, already pressing the miniscule buttons.

"NO! Don't touch them! You don't know what you're doing – !!!"

Back at the park, a certain firecracker dud sprang back to life and exploded with several loud CRACKS.

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Well, that was extremely fun to write. I hope you all understood exactly what took place here…but if not, you'll find out soon enough. Cookies for anyone who can find the reference to a certain Ned's Declassified episode in this chapter!

Once again, comments and critiques in a review are always nice.

Next update soon!