Timmy awoke feeling cold, something that tended to happen if you fell asleep with the air conditioner running, but he remembered what had happened the night before. He and Vicky had slept together, well not like that but had shared the same bed, so now he couldn't help but wonder: where had she gone? Upon sitting up in bed and rubbing the sleep from his eyes his question was answered, she was sitting at his computer desk looking at some web page.

"Morning."

"It's actually just after noon."

"Oh... I guess we slept in a little..."

"Yeah."

"Whatcha lookin' at?"

"A music ratings website."

"See anything interesting?" Timmy had a feeling he knew what this was about.

"Funny thing, when I woke up this morning I suddenly had the urge to look up that song we talked about."

"What song?" he knew what song.

"You know... that song..."

"No... I don't think I do..." but this was fun.

"Icky Vicky."

"Oh right! That song! How could I forget? Must have slipped my mind."

"Right. Anyway when I went to check, I saw that it has become Chip's worst song overnight."

"Well... that's good right?"

"Oh it's better than good, it's great! A bit of karmic justice for writing that song about me and dumping me, it's awesome!"

"I hope it doesn't affect his fame too much, I've heard that song practically saved his career..."

"Who cares? He can write other songs, hopefully next time they won't be about girls he doesn't like."

"Good point." While Timmy was still friends with Chip Skylark, he did note that after the success garnered by 'Icky Vicky', Chip had become somewhat... douchey. That song had really hurt her, even if she didn't completely show it, and he didn't like her being hurt, maybe a few years ago in retribution for what she did to him, but things were different now, especially after last night.

"So Vicky... Did you sleep well?"

"I think you know the answer. What about you?"

"...I did. Very well."

"Yeah, I kinda figured that."

Timmy stopped and thought now, he wanted to ask her something, but didn't know if he had the words, or courage to ask.

"So Vicky... what is... this?" he gestured back and forth between them.

"What is what?" she spoke in an innocent voice to annoy him, she knew exactly what he meant, but he toyed with her, and now it was time for payback.

"You know, this?" again he gestured between them.

"I'm still not entirely sure what you're talking about Timmy..."

"I'm entirely sure you're entirely sure what I'm talking about Vicky."

"Nope, no idea..." she couldn't hide the smile that now adorned her face.

"Us! This! You know, you and me! What is this between us? What are we to each other?" he didn't mean to yell but his emotions simply poured out.

"I think you know..."

"Yeah you do think I know, but I don't, I've never been in this situation before, you know that! But you have! You've had relationships, not me... So are we... together?"

"I'd say so."

"Just-just like that?"

"Yep. I want this." she moved closer and pulled him into a hug and looked into his eyes. "Don't you?"

He did. He absolutely did, but his mind was still trying to catch up to the rest of him in this whirlwind in which he now found himself, he was in disbelief that luck had smiled on him in such a way, he spent so much time chasing after Trixie and it had all been for naught, now here he was with this girl who had tortured him for most of the time they had known each other, and now she meant more to him than anyone ever had.

Vicky wanted an answer though, and while she was much nicer and more agreeable than she had ever been, she was still Vicky, and he hadn't lived this long by telling her what she didn't want to hear, thankfully what she wanted to hear and what he actually felt were the same.

"I do... of course I do!"

"Good." she hugged him tighter and placed a kiss on his cheek. "Now get dressed, I'm in a good mood and we're going out."

"Where are we going?"

"Wherever I feel like of course."

Vicky released her hold on him and strode over to her suitcase to begin fishing through it for clothes, moving aside the many weapons she brought with her.

"What exactly are all those for?"

"What you don't carry weapons with you wherever you go?"

"Uh, no it's kind of illegal."

"Pfft, you and your laws... no one has ever stopped me before, and besides, you never know when you might need a weapon, especially with people like Francis and Crocker around."

"That's not the only reason you have them though, is it?"

"Alright so maybe I packed them as a habit, you know because I threatened you with them, and maybe this summer I thought they would be getting some use over here..."

"But not now... right?"

"Of course not! Now that I know of a much more fun and rewarding way to torture you, these things are just gonna collect dust. Now go get dressed, we have many things to see today."

Timmy went to his dresser and grabbed his usual attire from it, lucky(?) for him his parents bought multiples of the same outfit for him to wear. He turned just in time to see Vicky beginning to lift her green tank-top over her head.

"I'll- I'll just go change in the bathroom!" he quickly ran out of his bedroom and shut the door, hearing Vicky snickering behind it. He could feel the heat on his face, once again she got him all flustered with a simple action.

"Just something I'm gonna have to get used to..."

Several minutes later Timmy returned to his room, finding Vicky (thankfully) fully clothed. Once again she was wearing her usual attire though she opted to continue wearing the longer green tank-top.

"How's the hip?"

"Better, it's not sore anymore but it doesn't look great..."

"Mind if I have a look?"

"Haven't you seen enough today?" she was teasing again.

"Very funny, let me have a look."

Vicky lifted her shirt over where the bruise was, it was no longer purplish-red, it now took on a slightly brown color.

"Well it looks like it's healing all right, but it's still a big bruise... But hey, at least you don't have to worry about it happening again, right?" he was referring to their latest sleeping arrangement now.

"Well to be fair, there are other benefits to sleeping in the same bed..."

"So! Where are we headed?"

"I need to make a stop at the Wall 2 Wall mart, stop by my house, and wherever else I feel like, my little victim."

They made their way out of the house and got into Vicky's car. Timmy looked into the rear view mirror and noticed that Crocker's white van was once again parked across the street, likely watching his house for signs of magic.

"You know, he keeps watching like that and we could be in trouble..."

"Why do you say that?"

"Just because he's watching the house for magical anomalies doesn't mean he won't notice something else, something between say the house's only current resident and his evil babysitter?"

"Why should that matter?"

"Mostly because nineteen year old women don't usually have fourteen year old boyfriends."

"You said yourself that it wasn't something to be concerned over, you have the right friends in the right places, we don't need to act like we're together in public, and nobody will believe a psycho like him anyway."

"That may be, but it's still a headache I would rather not deal with, so either we find a way to keep him off the trail, or we are going to have to be even more careful when around the house, maybe not in the house but around like outside."

"Good thing neither one of us are big on public displays of affection..."

"Indeed."

Timmy didn't necessarily hate Crocker, he understood that in his desperation to remember what he once had, he had gone off the deep end, but it was somewhat understandable, Cosmo and Wanda were once Crocker's fairies, and he had accidentally caused Crocker to lose them and become the hunch-backed, ear-necked, epileptic psycho that he was. That being said, it was an accident, and wasn't an excuse for Crocker to try to enslave mankind and reveal the existence of fairies to the world or to constantly harass Timmy at every chance he got.

"Y'know Timmy, we could always get rid of him."

"I don't think killing Crocker is an effective way of solving the problem."

"Well not we as in me and you, but I know people who can make people disappear..."

"Once again, I really don't think killing him is an effective solution, he isn't hurting anybody, not really..."

"But how long until he does Timmy? You're his main target, I don't know what he sees in you but he will come after you one day. Just like Francis."

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it then."

"If you say so..."

They continued on, driving in silence for fifteen minutes before arriving at the Dimmsdale Wall 2 Wall mart, then spent another minute driving across the vast parking lot before Vicky pulled into a handicapped parking space, just like before. Vicky grabbed a shopping cart and headed inside, Timmy close behind.

"Alright, here's the deal Twerp, I need to grab a few things and I don't need a tail, so go keep yourself busy while we're here, kay?" she certainly knew how to put on the tough uncaring act in public. "And..." she looked around before she spoke. "Stay out of trouble." she ruffled his hair now. With that she walked away and disappeared down one of the vast aisles.

Timmy didn't really like the idea of wandering around the store without Vicky, the regular supermarket was fine, this place however, was literally the size of a small moon, a person could get lost in here for weeks, even months if not careful. That wasn't what she was referring to though, she meant watch out for Francis.

Vicky wasn't terribly worried about Timmy, he knew now to watch out for Francis, and he wasn't the type to go looking for trouble (right?), so she could shop and steal at her leisure, the main reason she had come here was to try and get something to blackmail the CEO, it would be helpful to have a store the size of a small moon in her pocket, and she knew where to go to get what she needed. After making her way through what seemed like an endless number of aisles, she reached the manager's office and walked in, why a store this large with this many people coming and going through it wouldn't have security cameras she would never know, but she was glad for their lack of foresight today. She entered the manager's office and walked around the desk to find a safe, the door cracked open slightly.

"Typical... the security here is so lax that they just leave everything open without a second thought."

She briefly wondered if this was some kind of elaborate trap, then remembered that this was real life, nobody bothered with such things, and took what she needed.

"Let's see here... so the CEO is embezzling money and stealing what he likes from the store... how boring, now funding rebel armies in Tibecuador, that's interesting, that's bold, but this? Oh well... I'll have to look elsewhere for interesting things... still I can blackmail him with this."

Vicky left the office, satisfied with what she had found, and began to look for something she could steal, not for her for once, she wanted to get Timmy something, but she wasn't interested in paying any of the exorbitant prices that they charged in the store. Looking down the aisle that seemed to stretch into infinity, she saw Francis again, though this time he didn't see her. He was lumbering down the aisle, apparently looking for something, though what he wanted in the gardening aisle, she could only guess. This was odd, again he was in the same place as Timmy, even though they set off for here on a whim, it could be coincidence, but then it also could mean that he was planning something.

"Wait, planning? Him? No."

Well perhaps not. And the chances of him and Timmy running into each other were astronomically small in this store, so it probably wasn't anything to worry about, still... she decided to call Timmy and let him know, just in case. The phone rang twice before he answered.

"Hello?"

"Francis is here in the store." she looked over to where he was and saw him grabbing a shovel and some rope. "And I'm pretty sure he's planning a murder..."

"Why?"

"Because he's a sociopath?"

"No I mean why do you think he's planning a murder?"

"He's buying shovel, rope, a handsaw, and ketchup... okay so technically I might sound paranoid here, but just watch yourself okay? Meet me by the entrance, I got what I came for."

"Alright I'll be there shortly, just need to find my way back through miles of store..."

"See you soon!" Vicky hung up and made her way back to the store entrance, she had abandoned her shopping cart, only having to carry the incriminating evidence, and waited by the door, she noticed a pink string tied to one door, and leading deep into the store. After a rather long and somewhat concerning wait, she saw Timmy approaching, collecting the pink string and wrapping it around his hand as he went.

"What's with the string?"

"What this? To help me find my way back."

"Why does it have eyes?" Timmy looked down at the string in response to her remark and noticed that it did indeed have eyes.

"Why? Doesn't your string have eyes?"

"I don't have any string to find my way back."

"Well then I guess you're not very prepared are you?"

Clearly this was getting them nowhere.

"Let's just go, we can talk about your magic string when there isn't a psycho gray child looking for you while wielding a shovel."

"Phew, avoided that conversation."

"So where are we off to now?"

"My house, I need to stop in and check on something."

"Uh... Tootie's not gonna be there right?"

"No they probably left to go on their trip by now, why?"

"Well part of me is still afraid to run into her because of all those years she spent chasing me, and part of me is worried how she'll take... y'know, the whole 'us' thing..."

"Why worry? She said herself she gave up on you, and besides, we're not telling anyone, at least not for a while."

"If you say so."

As they got back in Vicky's car she began to speak.

"I know I mentioned offing Crocker earlier today, but I was only joking, Francis on the other hand..."

"What?"

"Well, if he is following you and if he does mean to do you, and by extension, me, harm... well I can't make any promises on what might happen to him, the world would be a better place without people like him..."

"...I know."

"Long as you know."

Meanwhile...

Francis was at the Dimmsdale Wall 2 Wall mart to buy... something. He couldn't remember what exactly, all that growing he had done did little for his brain, it remained small and under utilized. Francis could never be a leader, most knew this, few said it, he was still strong enough to deliver a painful beating to those he didn't like. Still he was nearly incapable of forming his own ideas, when he made his little baby brother disappear a few years back, it was not his idea, but rather a dream that had come to him while sleeping. That was why he was here, to buy a few things that he had remembered from his dream. A shovel, rope, a handsaw, ketchup... okay that was for him but still.

He remembered that he had seen Vicky a few days earlier, in the supermarket. The very thought of her chilled his bones, she was terrifying to him, and he was sure that she could merely think him out of existence if she wanted to. She made sure of the fear when she babysat him. Part of why she had done it was out of fear, she was afraid of this large gray child and knew that the best thing she could do was to make him fear her first. She succeeded in this regard thankfully and a fear was born in Francis of her that would never be conquered. If Vicky had known this she could have used him for all manner of tasks she deemed unworthy of herself, but she didn't know.

When he was in the supermarket he was actually looking for Timmy, but didn't find him, he only saw Vicky and was reminded of the fear. His dreams were drawing him towards Timmy for some purpose, possibly the same purpose that drew him towards taking the local pets and strays from the neighborhood and bringing them to his basement, to kill and string up toward some end to create a macabre sanctuary, but for what, he didn't know.

"Will there be anything else today sir?" the checkout lady queried.

"No thank you." he thought he was as deceptive as Vicky when talking to people. He wasn't. People tended not to trust a gray skinned child, or teenager now, who had a reputation for stealing and bullying, and was rumored to be causing the sudden disappearances of local pets and a child.

The missing child was, of course, dead, just another means to an end that Francis didn't understand. But his dreams told him to do it, so he did it. There was no remorse felt for what he had done, his mind too feeble to comprehend, and now as he returned home, his atrocities had an effect, one he likely didn't see coming. There was dark magic at work in his basement, which would have been noticed by his parents but they, like so many others, had left town for a vacation for the summer, not taking Francis because he was well, kind of an asshole to them, and they feared him.

Opening his front door, he didn't even bother to close it as he made a bee-line for the basement, dropping what he had bought at the store. Heading down he was met with what to most would have been a horrible smell, but he was quite desensitized to it now.

There was a cloud of purple-pink smoke now forming in the middle of the basement, Francis had no idea what was going on, apparently he had summoned something, but what?

Out of said cloud, much to Francis' horror, stepped a figure who could only be described as a male version of Vicky, Ricky to be exact.

"Ah God! What is that smell? Is it you or all these dead animals ya have strung up?" Ricky then looked at the body in the corner, then back to Francis, then gestured to it. "Or is it the dead kid?"

"Wait I remember you! You dated Vicky!" dust began to emanate from Francis' ears, his brain working harder than it had in years.

"Indeed I did. Stole quite a bit from her too and broke her heart, I'm proud to admit!"

"Wow, can I just say, it's an honor to meet you sir! I've been afraid of Vicky since we first met, but you! You were able to hurt her!"

"Yeah I do okay."

"Well what're you doing here?"

"Apparently the hate and malice I felt from being at the bottom of the ocean... What? Yeah I survived the sinking of a ship, carried out by people in her pocket. I'm not exactly human apparently. Anyway the hate I felt must have come to you in your dreams and by doing all... this." He gestured around the room. "You summoned me here, or transported me here, or whatever, from the boat. Now I can get some good old fashioned revengeance!"

"Well you're uh... welcome I guess?"

"I think you've earned yourself a reward my gray friend!" as he said this he put his arms on Francis' shoulders.

"What kind of reward?"

"Why, the best kind! A quick death!" saying this he moved his hands up to the sides of Francis' head and jerked his head and neck viciously to the right, causing Francis' eyes to bulge out of his head and his neck to snap like a dry twig. Francis' body then dropped to the floor, he was quite dead.

"Jeez what a freak! I probably did the world a favor by offing him! But wow it works just like in the movies or somethin'." he then peered around the basement again. "Well no sense in leaving any evidence." He pulled out a cigarette and a book of matches from his pocket and lit said cigarette before setting the matchbook itself ablaze and tossing it at the body in the corner. He then casually strode up the cellar stairs and out of the house and contemplated watching it burn before deciding against it, too risky. He began to walk down the street towards town and mused to himself:

"I'm coming for you Vicky, and you're little Twerp too."

A/N: I don't really know where this came from, well no, I do, someone in high school had this idea once and wrote it down for me telling me to use it if I ever decided to start writing, really as a joke more than anything else, I just expanded on it slightly. It feels out of place, to say the least, but whatever. Originally I wanted to make Francis a more believable antagonist but then decided I didn't like the character enough to bother. In short I used Francis as a means to an end in order to bring back Ricky. I suppose we all go a little crazy sometimes. That being said, this is still a romance fic so this little addition won't impact the story in a huge way.