Disclaimer: I do not own Jimmy Neutron.

Chapter 8: Cynthia's Visit

"Jimmy, wait!" Cindy called after him. "That's not fair!" She turned to James with a worried frown on her face. "Do you think I should go apologize?"

James shrugged. "That's up to you, Cindy," he told her.

Cindy bit her lip and glanced at the pot of spaghetti on the stove. "Could you watch that for me?" she asked. "I won't be long." James nodded. Although her better judgment told her that he couldn't be trusted for even five minutes with the food, she ignored it and went off after Jimmy.

She found him sulking on the living room couch. "What do you want, Vortex?" he snapped as she sat down next to him.

"Look, Jimmy, I didn't mean it," Cindy sighed. "I'm just really stressed out about trying to make everything perfect, and, well…your attitude certainly wasn't helping things any."

"So now it's my fault again?" Jimmy demanded. "Look, Cindy, I'm just really tired of you being all sweet to James, and then turning around and acting like I'm some uncaring jerk!"

"Well, you were the same way when it came to Cynthia!" Cindy reminded him. "Did you think that I didn't feel at least a little bit hurt at how you treated me then? You never care about anyone but yourself!"

Jimmy stared into her deep green eyes, wishing profusely that he could tell her the truth. He did care—he cared about her so much, and yet all he could do was fight with her. Would anything ever really change between them? He doubted it. Even now in the future, when they had finally gotten together, something—or should he say, someone—had shown up and ruined it.

"Cindy," he began after a moment, "I know you don't realize it, but I care a lot more about this than you think. Why do you think I'm still here? James had a time machine back in his lab. With one flip of the switch, I could be out of here. But I decided to stay. I may not be the biggest help, but I do care. Sometimes I just wish that…never mind." Sometimes I just wish that you treated me the same way you treat my older self, Jimmy finished in his head.

"I'm sorry," Cindy apologized. After a second, she added softly, "Why are we doing this?"

"Doing what?" Jimmy asked.

"Why are we trying to get them back together again?" she replied. "We hate each other, right? So why are we trying to make sure that we stay married in the future? I mean, it would be more logical to break them up."

"I know," Jimmy agreed. "Believe me, I've thought of going back in time two years to make sure that we never get married in the first place."

"And why haven't you?" Cindy persisted.

"Because of James," Jimmy admitted. "He told me that I would only be miserable if I did that. It's obvious that he really loves Cynthia, like you said before. He really loves you."

"Cindy!" James called from the kitchen, breaking up their "moment."

Cindy rolled her eyes and groaned, and then shot Jimmy a smile. "Sorry," she said, standing to her feet. "I'd better go see what he wants before something dreadful happens."

Jimmy laughed. "It's fine." He followed her back into the kitchen where they finished getting ready for Cynthia's arrival.

At six o'clock sharp, there was a knock at the door. James drew in a breath. This is it, he told himself. He turned the handle and opened the door slowly, his heart pounding in his chest. There she stood, looking just as beautiful as he had imagined her.

Jimmy and Cindy were downstairs in the lab, watching everything from a monitor. James had set up video cameras and sound devices in every room of the house as a security feature, so that when he was working on an invention, he could still easily keep track of everything that was going on. It worked out perfectly for Cindy, who wanted to witness everything and yet stay out of sight and hearing so that James and Cynthia could be alone.

"Cynthia," James whispered, seemingly entranced with her, "you look wonderful."

Cynthia rolled her eyes. "Oh, cut it out," she snapped, taking a step inside and closing the door behind her. "I know that I could never compare to Quinlan. Especially not now."

James shook his head. That wasn't true in the least bit. But what had she meant by the last statement? Suddenly a realization came over him, and he blurted out, "You're—you're pregnant!"

"Took you long enough," Cynthia huffed, crossing her arms.

"I can't believe it! That's the best news ever!" James vociferated, not allowing Cynthia's mood to dampen his own. "Why didn't you tell me before?"

"You weren't supposed to know about it," Cynthia grumbled. "It would've stayed a secret, too, if I had just turned Cindy down."

"How far along are you?" James asked, still enthusiastic despite Cynthia's hostility.

"Four months," she replied curtly.

"So you know whether it's a boy or girl," James concluded. Cynthia nodded, but didn't speak. "Well?"

She hesitated, and then finally said, "Two girls."

"You're having twins?" he exclaimed. At her nod, he couldn't resist throwing his arms around her and holding her tightly to himself. "I love you, Cynthia," he whispered softly, stroking her long blonde hair.

Tears began streaming down her face. "Don't say that," she choked out. "You don't really. You don't."

James pulled his head away to look her in the eyes. "Yes, I do," he stated simply.

Before Jimmy and Cindy knew what was going on, they were suddenly witnessing a long, passionate kiss happening between the two adults.

"Leapin' leptons, they're making out!" Jimmy exclaimed with a shudder. "How disgusting!"

Cindy giggled, still gazing at the screen in front of them. "I don't know," she said with a smile, "I think it's kind of…cute…"

Jimmy stared at her in shock. Surely she didn't mean what he thought she meant.

Cindy caught the look he was giving her and quickly blurted out, "I mean, not like, cute for us! Cute for them! Because, uh, they're married and…stuff…" She cringed, inwardly calling herself names for being so stupid.

Jimmy opened his mouth to speak, but before he had a chance to, a movement on the monitor caught his eye. Cynthia had suddenly shoved James away from her, a scowl on her face. "I should've known that you'd do this," they heard her snap. "You're trying to woo me back to you and make me forget that anything ever happened. Well, it won't work. I'm not planning on forgetting anytime soon."

"That's not what I was doing!" James protested, his face filled with hurt.

"Whatever." Cynthia rolled her eyes. "Look, we both know the reason I'm here. So let's get to the point. When are you going to confess what you've done?"

James sighed. "Why don't we go talk about this over dinner, as planned?" he suggested. "Cindy worked kind of hard on setting things up for that."

"Fine," Cynthia agreed. Frowning, she followed him through the kitchen and into the dining room.

The big wooden table looked amazing, she had to admit. James had set out her favorite dishes and silverware, and there were floating candles in the glasses. A vase of roses was placed in the middle as a centerpiece. "I thought you didn't like candles," she remarked as he pulled back her chair for her.

James smiled. "I just don't like using them as a primary source of light," he reminded her, taking a seat himself.

Cynthia examined the food in front of her. "Smart kitchen?" she guessed with a laugh.

"No, actually, I made that all by myself," he bragged. Cynthia raised an eyebrow and smiled. "OK, so Cindy helped a little bit," he admitted. She laughed again. Wow, he sure did love that sound.

"So, basically, I made this," she smirked. James had never thought of it that way, but he supposed she was right. "Anyway, let's cut the chit chat. I believe you have a confession to make."

"You're right, Cynthia," James sighed. "I do."

A/N: I forgot to mention that Chapter 7 was dedicated to my best friend, Katrina. She was a big help with the idea and title for the Perfect Fit 3000. Anyway, I think Chapter 8 is my longest chapter so far. I decided to end it with that last statement to make things a little more interesting for all of you. Please review and tell me what you think!

retroville9: Thank you! I hope that it will continue to get better.

Stay-Away: Was this update soon enough for you? I sure hope so! Thanks for the review!

starrlightstarbrite: Yeah, I threw that in there to be funny. I'm glad that I seem to have succeeded. Cindy rocks. Thanks for reviewing!

Hermione Granger63: Here's that update you asked for! I hope you liked it!

Sonomi-chan: Yes, poor Jimmy. But at least Cindy was kind enough to apologize in this chapter! I hope you liked it!

Aaliyah93: I always look forward to your reviews! They seem to be the longest and the most fun. Anyways, I did have some help with the Perfect Fit 3000. I had the initial idea for it, and then my friend Katrina sort of helped me expand it and gave me some suggestions. It would be pretty sweet to have one of those in real life, huh?

Yes, I felt bad for Jimmy too. But, being the author, I knew that it would be a great opportunity for a good talk with Cindy. That's cool that you have a Jimmy plush! So do I, and I sleep with it every night. :) Thanks for reviewing, and I'm eagerly anticipating the next one!