Disclaimer: I do not own Jimmy Neutron.

Chapter 10: The Midnight Talk

Almost as soon as Cynthia left, James went upstairs and holed himself away in his bedroom. Cindy felt horrible. He had left it up to her, and she had totally ruined everything. It looked as if Cynthia would never speak to him again if her life depended on it. And it was all Cindy's fault.

It became apparent that he wouldn't be coming out for the rest of the night, so Cindy decided to take up the room adjoining Jimmy's. It was smaller than the master bedroom, and probably didn't have the Perfect Fit 300, but she didn't really care at this point. She, like James, was too upset to think about anything other than Cynthia.

This proved to be a hindrance when she was trying to fall asleep that night. She kept thinking about the day's events, over and over, trying to decide what she had needed to do differently. But 'woulda, coulda, shoulda' thoughts wouldn't help her any, and she knew that. It was just really hard...hard facing the fact that she'd failed, hard seeing what she had turned into as an adult, and hard thinking that she and Jimmy really had no future together beyond this. There would be no happy ending for them. And that, right there, might just be the hardest thing she had to accept.

Suddenly Cindy mentally slapped herself on the forehead. Wake up! she told herself. This is me we're talking about! The one who never gives up, no matter what the circumstances! But as she thought about it more, the situation seemed pretty hopeless. What else could she do? Was there really any alternative to giving up?

Cindy glanced at the digital clock on the nightstand beside her. 11:47, it read. Realizing that she should get some sleep, Cindy sighed and tried to force all of the bad thoughts out of her mind. It didn't work. At this point, she'd never be able to fall asleep. A long night of tossing and turning awaited, which was none too thrilling for her.

Cindy's eyes shifted to the door on the left side of the room, the door that led to Jimmy's room. Maybe it wasn't a good idea, but it seemed a lot more welcoming than lying in bed trying to fall asleep unsuccessfully. So, without giving it a second thought, Cindy was up.

She moved across the room quickly and knocked softly on the door in front of her. "Jimmy, can I talk to you for a second?" she said quietly, but loud enough for him to hear her.

"Come in," came the reply. Cindy entered to find a tired boy genius laying in bed, probably still half asleep. "What time is it?" he asked her with a yawn.

"Around 11:45, last time I checked," Cindy admitted sheepishly, knowing that it was even later now. "But, well, I couldn't sleep..."

"Understandable, after all we've been through," Jimmy mused. He probably shouldn't feel too bad for her, but in reality, he did. She had put every effort into her plan, just to produce nothing but more conflict in the long run. "So...do you want to sit down?" Jimmy patted the comforter welcomingly, and Cindy smiled at him gratefully.

"Thanks," she said as she took a seat on the end of his bed. "I know you have every right to hate me."

"Cindy, what are you talking about?" Jimmy asked her, frowning. "You tried your best. Sometimes that's all we can do."

"Even when your best amounts to nothing?" Cindy said, her tone rising in anger. It wasn't aimed at him, but at herself. Jimmy watched in silence as she continued to vent. "I thought the future me would be someone that I could look up to, but now I've realized the truth! I don't have anything to look forward to in the future! Not only have I ruined my own life, but someone else's as well! I'm sorry, Jimmy; really, truly sorry!" Tears filled her eyes, and she started to cry. It wasn't the kind of crying that one would experience after something trivial, like failing a class, but rather heartwrenching sobs.

Jimmy had to admit, he was afraid. He realized then that the strong, independent Cindy Vortex had an inward weakness, one that she tried to hide from everyone else. She wasn't as big and scary as she portrayed herself to be. She had other feelings and emotions; a part that he'd never seen before. He yanked off the covers and went over to sit beside her. He refrained from speaking; there were some times in life when those around you just needed to know that you cared.

After a while, Cindy's crying ceased. She wiped her eyes and turned to look at him. "I never wanted you to see me cry," she sniffled.

"It's OK, Cindy," Jimmy reassured her gently. "Don't be so hard on yourself."

Cindy's ears immediately perked up. "Wh—what?" she asked, startled.

Jimmy grinned. "Yolkians? Dungeon?" he reminded her. "One of the first times you were ever nice to me. I have to return the favor." A small laugh escaped from her lips, and Jimmy felt like patting himself on the back for doing such a good job at cheering her. But, almost as soon as her face brightened, it darkened again.

"This is different," Cindy insisted. "I have every reason to be hard on myself. If it wasn't for me, we wouldn't be going through this right now!"

"I don't necessarily believe that," Jimmy commented. "Isn't it more of Betty's fault than yours?"

"Betty...Betty Quinlan..." Cindy's hands turned into fists. "What I wouldn't give to show her what I really think of her!"

"Maybe you can...," Jimmy said slowly. His eyes had a faraway look to them, as if he was suddenly lost in thought.

"What good would it do?" Cindy sighed in exasperation, shaking her head. "What good will anything do now? I messed up, and let's face it—Cynthia's never coming back."

"I thought you never gave up!" Jimmy exclaimed in concern. "You're too stubborn, remember?"

"Hey—watch it," Cindy snapped. Being reminded of her strong will wasn't helping the situation any. In fact, that was the biggest reason why Cynthia wouldn't believe James.

"Look, I'm just saying... You were so close! There must be something else we can do!" Jimmy racked his brain for the answer. Unfortunately, the genius part didn't really come into play much when he was dealing with relationships.

"I wasn't close at all," Cindy whispered sadly. "Can't you see it? The reason she agreed to come wasn't me. It was those stupid divorce papers."

The color drained out of Jimmy's face. She was right. Most likely, Cynthia hadn't been listening to a word that James said. She was just waiting for the right time to make their separation permanent.

"I don't want to get divorced," Cindy went on. "I really, really don't want to get divorced." Suddenly her eyes went moist again, and she tried with every effort to hold back the waterworks. "I mean, I know we don't get along now, but if I marry someone I want it to be forever. Til death do us part. Is that so much to ask?" It was no use anymore; the first tear fell down her face, and she feared that the next one would follow shortly after. Instead, she tried to make a joke of it. "Oh great—your bed is going to be soaked now."

Jimmy smiled halfheartedly. "It's OK, I don't really care." He heaved a sigh and scooted back to lean against the wall. "I'm sorry, Cindy."

"Sorry? Why are you sorry?" she questioned. "I'm the one to blame here. Cynthia is me, which makes me the one in the wrong. You haven't done anything."

"Yeah, but if I didn't drool over Betty Quinlan so much now, she probably would've believed him from the start," Jimmy said regretfully.

Cindy spun around to look at him. "You're admitting that you drool over her?" she demanded, wondering if she was so tired that her mind was playing tricks on her.

"I never thought that I'd say this, but..." Jimmy hesitated. "Yeah, I guess I am."

Cindy was shocked. "Wow," was all she could say as she joined him in leaning against the wall.

"At first I was thinking that we never should've come here," Jimmy commented, "but now I think I'm kind of glad. Not with the whole issue between our older selves—but I think that I've learned a few things."

"Like not being stubborn?" Cindy guessed.

"And telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth," Jimmy quipped, thinking of the phone calls that James had only recently mentioned to Cynthia.

"Not going gaga over Betty," Cindy added with a smirk, playfully jabbing him in the ribs.

"Hey!" Jimmy looked at her, laughed, and then poked her back. "So, does that only apply to Betty, or to all other females as well?"

"Hm..." Cindy scratched her head, pretending to be thinking hard. "It applies to anyone who's not your wife," she stated.

"But I'm not married," Jimmy pointed out with a grin.

Cindy yawned deeply. "Not yet you're not," she said softly, a smile on her face.

"Oh, I see what you're saying. I can go gaga over you and no one else, huh?" Jimmy teased.

Cindy pused her lips. "I never said that," she protested.

"But you were thinking it," Jimmy insisted.

"No...I wasn't..." Cindy yawned once more, and Jimmy realized how tired that she really was.

"You should go to sleep," he told her.

"But I'm not tired," Cindy claimed, rubbing her eyes as she spoke. This told Jimmy otherwise.

"Cindy, people yawn to keep themselves from fainting with fatigue," he went on. "And you just yawned twice in one minute. You are tired."

She knew that he was right, but she wasn't ready to go back to her room yet. "I may be tired," Cindy admitted, "but I won't be able to fall asleep. That's the whole reason I came to talk to you."

"You were probably hoping that I had a solution to our problem, too, weren't you?" Jimmy surmised, sighing. "I'm sorry."

"Cynthia will probably never speak to him again," Cindy remarked, growing depressed once more. "And I don't think that there's anything I can do. Not to mention that it looks like James has pretty much given up once and for all." It was a struggle for her to keep her eyes open, so instead she let them shut as she listened to Jimmy's reply.

"So I noticed," he frowned, scratching his head. "I hate to say this, but...do you think we should just give up and go home? Right now that seems like the only available option. I mean, I haven't talked to Cynthia yet, but I don't think that will help too much either. And then there's always trying to get Betty to confess...but I doubt that she would come straight out and tell us, and it might be a lot of work to trick her into it, you know?" There was a pause. "Cindy?"

Jimmy turned to look at her, only to find that she had fallen asleep after all, her head tilted to the side opposite of his. He knew she needed to go to bed. Oh, well...it didn't really matter too much. As Jimmy watched on, he felt a sudden determination coming on. He couldn't let her just slip away like this. Although the last two options he had mentioned sure didn't seem like they would work, he at least needed to try. If they were the only things that he could come up with, then he would go for it at full force until something new came to mind.

Jimmy sighed. It was starting to look like they would be here for a long time.

A/N: Whew! I was finally able to produce a new chapter! It was pretty hard with my mom watching me like a hawk, not to mention school starting back up, and that this is probably my longest chapter yet. But maybe that will make up for the wait. Anyway, tell me what you think!

WAYAMY27NARF: Yes, I love love! OK, that was pretty lame. Let me refrase that: I love romance. Sound better? Good. Anyways, I'm sorry that I couldn't get this chapter out before I left my dad's! I was busy getting my things together and playing with the twins and stuff like that, so I was kind of preoccupied and creatively lacking. Plus, I didn't want to rush things and give you guys a sucky chapter when I could give you a good chapter. But, yeah, here it is! And I'm glad that you like the story so much.

acosta perez jose ramiro: Thank you! I am definitely trying to bring out more emotion as I go along. I am considering the visit to Betty now that you've mentioned it, but I won't give anything away just yet. Glad you liked it!

xJCManiak12x: That was as fast of an update as I could manage, sorry! I hope it wasn't too long of a wait. And I would have to say that my story is way less than perfect - but I really appreciate all of the enthusiasm, and I'm glad that you like it so much!

Sonomi-chan: How could I? Well, I'm the author. And authors can make the characters behave however they want! It's wonderful when you have that much power! But seriously, yeah. Cynthia is pretty messed up right now. And I won't even bring up the other thing she's considering besides divorce - you'll hear about that later.

MidnightSuburbia: Yes, she is, isn't she? It really is too bad. Well, here's the update! And thanks for the compliment. It means a lot coming from you, because I think you're one of my only readers who hates the Betty bashing, so...yeah...

Hermione Granger63: I know, they really are! It sucks that Cynthia is so blinded by her stubbornness, doesn't it?

Philip the Great: Well, it certainly isn't over yet, although I don't think I really have that many chapters left to write. It's not as long as my past fanfics, that's for sure. And I'm a fan of happy endings (ha ha—the irony!), so it would be sad if this does indeed turn out to be a tragedy (I don't really give anything away, do I?). Thanks for the review!

greenleaf62: Wow, I'm glad that you like it so much! I think about it all day when I'm in school, too (although perhaps that's because I'm the author and am trying to think of what to write next?). Here's that update you wanted, and, yes—James and Cynthia are adorable! They just have to stay married! Although, if I was James, I'd be seriously ticked right now. Ticked enough to agree, maybe? Well, we'll see!

XxDoCxX: And by 'OMG,' did you mean that it's great or terrible?

Andre.ar: Thanks for the super long review! I love feedback! Anyways, yes—Cynthia is really getting on my nerves, and I think that James pretty much has given up by now. It's mainly Jimmy and Cindy who are fighting against their futures by this time. Well, again, thanks!

Aaliyah93: It's OK, I don't mind the length of the review, as long as there is one! And that's pretty awesome that you called me G! All of my really close friends do that, LOL. Anyways, if you can't believe that she'd go THAT far, you especially won't believe how far she'll continue to take this. It's sad, really. I won't promise you the ending, but I do think that you'll like it.

Lady Lola Laflaunda: Yes, he was telling the truth. It kind of stinks that Cynthia has to be sort of the bad guy in this, but oh well—things will work out. I mean, I hope that they will.

Stay-Away: Is it long enough this time? The last one was short because I was getting ready to leave my dad's. And hopefully you haven't cried yet, because here is your update!

general shadow wolfsbane: Thanks! Here's that update!