Timmy stared at his phone, awaiting the ring he knew would be here any minute, he still wasn't sure if he would lie to his friends or tell them the truth.

The phone rang, scaring Timmy from his thoughts. He went to reach for it, but Vicky snatched it away and answered it.

"Timmy! Chester and AJ just called and said that my sister has brainwashed you! Are you alright?! If Vicky hurt you, I'm gonna give her such a talking to!"

"Are you now, Toots?"

There was silence from Tootie's end.

"And brainwashing? Aren't you kids getting a little old for science fiction stuff like that?"

"V-Vicky?"

"Yep, me."

"I uh... I thought I called Timmy's phone, sorry-"

"You did."

Again, silence.

"Why are you answering Timmy's phone? Is he okay?"

"He's fine, I'm taking care of him after all."

"Well you're not brainwashing him, right?"

"Let me ask..."

Vicky moved the phone away from her ear and looked over at Timmy.

"Am I brainwashing you? Are you not in charge of your faculties?"

"No, you haven't brainwashed me, I'm still me..."

Vicky returned the phone to her ear.

"See?"

"Chester and AJ said that Timmy said you aren't as bad as they think, that's kind of odd coming from him..."

"Well you, as my sister, know that I'm not that bad..."

"No, but you can be, and Timmy always got the worst of it..."

"So?"

"So... Why is he suddenly saying you aren't as bad? He seemed to think he was pretty dead when he found out you were taking care of him all summer."

"I dunno, maybe he's matured?"

"Or maybe you brainwashed him, or tricked him, or you're blackmailing him?"

"Hah! Those are all great ideas! Good guesses! I mean you're wrong, but good try, nonetheless."

"Then what did you do to him? He wouldn't just change over the course of a few weeks..."

"I don't see what the big deal is, you ever think you worry too much?"

"No, I don't."

"It almost seems like you still like him or something..."

There was silence once again from Tootie's end.

"Tootie?"

"...Still here."

"Do you still like him?" Vicky looked over at Timmy, he had a concerned expression on his face.

"No... well I mean, not really... kind of...?"

"Tootie, this is ridiculous, there are plenty of guys out there. You've been pining after him for years and nothing has ever come of it..."

"I can't help what my heart wants, and it wants Timmy."

"Those feelings will only lead to heartache..."

"But... maybe I could..."

"No, you can't. Tootie, move on, it's for the best."

"Why are you saying things like this?"

"Because it has been the same between you two for years, you always chasing after him, and he always running away, he even got a restraining order against you..."

"I won't give up."

"Wha?"

"You never give up Vicky. I need to be more like you, never quitting, and taking what I want."

"No you don't. I'm not a good person, you don't want to be like me..."

"Its the only way I can get what I want, the only way he will love me."

"You aren't going to give him up, are you?"

"No, I won't, I can't. He will love me."

"He won't..."

"Why do you say that?"

Vicky looked over at Timmy again, briefly wondering how much of the conversation he had become privy to.

"He... loves someone else..."

"What?! Who?! Is it that bitch Veronica?! Or Trixie?! They won't get in my way!"

Vicky was surprised to hear this side of Tootie, she thought she had given up on Timmy, but it seemed she was just suppressing her feelings...

"Nope, wrong on all accounts, sorry."

"But you know who it is?!"

"Yep. He told me himself."

"Who?!"

"I... don't think you really want to know..."

"I do! Tell me! I need to know!"

"Fine... It's me."

There was silence from the other end, then Vicky heard Tootie burst out laughing.

"Pahaha! That's good Vicky! I had forgotten your sense of humor! Oh God, that's too much!"

Now there was silence from Vicky's end.

"Vicky?"

"Not a joke..."

"Vicky, this isn't funny..."

"Isn't meant to be..."

"You're... you're serious...?" the question was squeaked out.

"I am."

"I want to talk to Timmy..."

Vicky handed the phone to Timmy. He took it and covered the microphone.

"What are you doing?!" he exclaimed in a whisper.

"She wants confirmation from you." she was whispering now too.

"You told her?!"

"You were right here!"

"I was zoning out!"

"Well you better talk to her soon, you've kept her waiting for a few minutes now..."

Timmy rolled his eyes and Vicky mouthed: "Don't roll your eyes at me!"

"Hello?"

"Is what Vicky said true?"

"What uh... What part?"

"That you love her?"

"...Yes... it's true..."

"Put Vicky back on the phone."

He handed the phone back to Vicky.

"Tootie?"

"He really isn't brainwashed..."

"No."

"How?"

"I don't know. I guess maybe it's because of how much time we spend together or something..."

"But- but I tried, and then you... You stole him from me!"

"I could only steal him if you already had him, and you never did..."

"But I love him! This isn't fair!"

"He doesn't love you, he cares about you as a friend, and treasures the relationship you have, but he doesn't love you. I'm sorry you had to find out like this, but..."

"You aren't sorry! I should have known you were still evil! You live to make people miserable! And you want me to be miserable! After everything we talked about..."

"I'm not going to argue with you, Tootie. You can think of me however you like, but you're still my sister, and I love you."

"Well I don't love you!" she hung up the phone.

"That went... about as well as expected..."

"Well, it's about what I expected..."

"You think she'll tell Chester and AJ?"

"She might, but I only know her so well, she's your sister..."

"Eh, she'll get over it."

"Just like that?"

"It'll take some time, but she will."

Timmy's phone began to ring again. This time, he snatched it away from her and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Dude?! What the hell?!" it was Chester.

"So I'm gonna assume you talked to Tootie..."

"Yeah! I did! Are you nuts?!"

"Maybe a little..."

"Maybe a lot! Why are you in a relationship with her,of all people?!"

"Like I said, she isn't as bad as you think..."

"You were the biggest speaker when it came to how Vicky is! The most vivid, the most colorful, the most in-depth! Why the sudden change?!"

"People change, Chester."

"How long has this been going on? Since summer? Before that? Have you two been together for years?! How long has she had her claws in you?!"

"No! Of course not! That's sick! Just since summer..."

"She must be brainwashing you, or blackmailing you, or... or something!"

"I can assure you there is no blackmailing or brainwashing or trickery of any kind involved."

"I can't believe this! You and her? She's a monster! The worst of the worst! Pure evil, plain and simple."

Timmy could feel anger bubbling up in him now. "Chester, I'm going to put this very plainly so you understand, Vicky is my girlfriend, I am her boyfriend, and you are my friend, but if you ever, ever, talk about her in any way other than amicably, you will know what it means to be hurt. Do you understand me?"

Chester was horrified by the tone in Timmy's voice, it felt like he was ten again and Vicky was talking to him about what she might do to him if he disobeyed.

"A-Alright man... sorry..."

"Good, now we can go back to being friends and act like this little incident never happened."

"Sure man, I'll uh... talk to you later."

"Bye."

He placed the phone down and looked at Vicky. She was just standing there, smiling at him.

"What?"

"Nothing, I'm just impressed at how you handled that."

"What potentially cutting all ties with my friend?"

"Yeah, that. You're getting some evil undertones, like me."

"I told you, no one is going to keep us apart, if I had to spend eternity with any one person of my choosing, I'd pick you, everytime."

"How romantic..."

"I try."

"Though I'm not entirely sure I'd want to live forever, that's a lot of loss to have to deal with..."

"Eh, I can think of fates worse than that. Being without you, for example."

"You're really pouring on the charm today huh?"

"Well, I'm trying to be nice, you're still sick."

"Then shall we return to the bed?"

"Lead the way."

This time, Timmy did turn off his phone, he had had enough excitement from his friends, he was content to just spend the rest of the day with Vicky, helping her recover.

The thought to cure Vicky of her sickness was tempting, but he didn't, mostly because he wanted to spend time with her, like this. It was selfish, but he was too caught up in enjoying Vicky's arms around him to care.

"How're you feeling?"

"Hot."

"Well, if we lie here long enough, you should sweat out the sickness, and you should probably keep drinking lots of liquids."

"There's no more orange juice..."

"I could go get some..."

"But then you'd leave me all alone... and I'm sick!"

"Not like I want to leave, but if you want to get better, I should really get you some juice or something."

"Ugh... fine. Go my prince, get some delicious nourishment so that your princess is able to get over this wasting sickness."

"I don't think it's quite that bad..."

"I poured on the drama a little too thickly there, I suppose..."

Timmy got dressed and grabbed his wallet, then left the house, making sure to lock the door behind him. He wasn't worried too much about anyone showing up at his house while he was gone, the last of his enemies were snuffed out, at last. But something about Vicky being sick made him want to stay by her side and protect her, no matter what.

Timmy continued walking down the street, happy he left his phone behind, he was sure that AJ or Tootie would call him soon, and he didn't want to talk to them right now, he was somewhat mad at Vicky for telling them too, it wasn't something he wanted to share, they would give him no end of shit for dating a girl six years older than him, and especially so because she was Vicky. Lucky for her, she was sick, so he would be unable to stay mad at her for very long.

Timmy was snapped out of his thoughts by police sirens blaring right behind him.

"Hold it right there! Put your hands above your head and turn around, nice and slow..."

"Jeez, what now?!"

The officer stepped out of the car and approached Timmy.

"You wanna tell me where you're going so late in the morning, son?"

"It's ten-thirty in the morning on a Saturday..."

The officer looked at his watch. "So it is..."

"I'm going to get some orange juice for my girlfriend."

The officer stared at Timmy, Timmy stared back unflinchingly. The two continued this way for nearly a minute before the officer broke out in laughter.

"Pahaha! Don't look so serious kid! The name's Wolfe, Arlen Wolfe, at your service! Ha, you're as serious as that red head!"

"You know Vicky?"

"Every officer at the station knows Vicky, just that most of them are afraid of her, I'm not."

"Why is that?"

"We have a mutual understanding, her and I."

"Oh. Okay, I think she mentioned you off-hand, it's nice to meet you. I'm happy that not everyone I meet hates or is afraid of Vicky."

"So you must be Timmy then? She told me about you, told me quite a bit, if you understand what I'm suggesting..."

"Yeah, I should've known..."

"Eh, don't worry overmuch kid, I'm happy for her, she always seemed too unapproachable for all the sorry sacks that call themselves men around here. Nice to see someone was finally able to get through to her."

"Thanks, I think?"

"Don't mention it, how is she by the way?"

"She's come down with a cold, I'm out getting her some juice so she'll feel better..."

"Ah! And you're dedicated too! You're both great catches for lucky suitors! Lucky you found each other."

"Just a few months ago, you might have a different opinion about us..."

"I know all about that, yeah, you've both had some rough patches, but at least you both got over it."

"We're getting through another one right now, well more like we're in one..."

"How's that?"

"She told her sister that we're... together."

"So?"

"I'm friends with her sister, her sister has a crush on me, and her sister told my friends that I'm dating her. My friends think Vicky is evil, and Tootie, her sister, thinks that Vicky is dating me out of spite towards Tootie..."

"Hmph... Quite a conundrum there..."

"You're telling me..."

"You're not having second thoughts about Vicky, are ya?"

"No, of course not."

"Then don't worry so much, you'll just give yourself a headache. Long as you love each other, everything else will fall into place."

"I get the feeling you know more than you say..."

"You wouldn't be the first to think that..."

"How do you know so much?"

"Trust me kid-" he lit up a cigarette. "-you really don't want to know..."

Timmy looked at Wolfe and saw something in his face when he said the last sentence that suggested he was right, this wasn't something he wanted to know.

"Well, I really should get going..."

"Before I forget, that teacher of yours, Crocker I think?"

"Yeah?"

"He's been... taken care of. You very likely won't see him again, and if you do, he won't be bothering you again."

"I assume we have you to thank for that?"

"Indeed."

"Well then, thank you for that."

"Yep." Wolfe went back to his car and got in it, then drove away.

"That guy may be helpful... but he's frickin' weird..."

Timmy arrived at the store and grabbed six large bottles of orange juice, then went to the front counter to pay for them.

"Will there be anything else, sir?"

"Nope, just the OJ."

"Got a craving for vitamin C?"

"Not me, my friend, she isn't feeling well."

"Well, you're a good friend!"

"I try."

He now walked back to his house, glad he didn't have far to go, the heat coupled with the weight of the orange juice already had him pretty exhausted.

He opened the door and locked it behind him. "Vicky? I'm home!" He heard a groan from upstairs. "So she's about the same..."

He put the juice in the fridge and grabbed one for Vicky, then returned upstairs to his room. He found Vicky wrapped in a blanket again, a tuft of hair and part of her face being the only visible part of her.

"So... back to blanket monster?"

"Why don't you come over here and find out...?"

"Y'know, normally I would know better than to do that, but I'm strangely compelled to fall for the same trap..."

He made his way over to the bed and climbed in, she was already near the wall the bed rested against. "C'mon! Do you really think I would try the same trick twice?"

He moved closer to her and the blanket opened up for a split second, revealing Vicky as she lunged forward to tackle him to the bed again. They were enshrouded in darkness again for several seconds before Timmy spoke up.

"Yes. Met your friend Wolfe while I was out." he handed her the juice. "Seems he knows quite a bit about you and I."

"Yeah, probably because I told him."

"Long as you don't tell anyone about Cosmo and Wanda..."

"Yeah, I know."

"Sorry, not trying to nag, I'm just being cautious..."

"Did he say anything else?"

"Just that he was happy that you found someone like me, and that we won't have to worry about Crocker again..."

"Oh, okay." she had already finished the juice bottle.

"Who is he anyway?"

"Someone who looked out for me when things were tough, at least to the best of his abilities... he's... strange, to say the least. I may say that my life has been tough, but he has seen some shit. I mean serious shit. Even I don't know what exactly, but I wouldn't wish it on anyone."

"But he's helped you? On multiple occasions?"

"Yep. One of the few people who are trustworthy in the police station."

They both sat in silence for several minutes under the blanket before Timmy spoke up.

"So what now?"

Vicky glanced over to Timmy and her characteristic predatory smile appeared. She lunged at him again and crashed her lips into his, just light kissing at first then she deepened the kiss and it lead to touching as well, this continued for several minutes before they broke the kiss, and were panting slightly.

"You uh... taste like oranges. It's like kissing an orange." he spoke between breaths. "Not that I'm complaining!" he quickly put his hands up in defense.

"Good thing you added that." Vicky stood up and grabbed some clothes from her suitcase, along with a towel. "I'm going to take a bath, maybe the hot water will help me get decongested."

"Okay..."

Vicky just stood there, looking at Timmy.

"What?"

"We've been in this situation before, Timmy."

"Uh..."

"Care to join me?"

Timmy immediately blushed bright red, not at the question, more at the fact that his hormones were screaming at him to take the invitation after what he and Vicky had just done. But at the same time, he wasn't sure if he was ready, they had been together for a few weeks now, probably a month, if it weren't for the fact that the summer had been extended. But was he ready for that? Was she? She seemed like she was, but it might be just a bluff... Her face betrayed no emotion, only that confident smile. He didn't want to ruin things between them, especially being so... inexperienced in this particular field. He knew he had to answer her soon, he had kept her waiting long enough.

"O...okay..."

Timmy saw the confident look on Vicky's face shatter, and she blushed brighter than he did. It appeared that it was a bluff on her part, and he called it, though he only had a sneaking suspicion that it was a bluff.

"You-You're sure? I mean if you don't want to... I-I won't force you... I want to! But... I mean, um... only if you think... you're ready..."

"Y'know, just because we're bathing together doesn't mean..."

"I know!" she spoke, and it didn't quite sound like her, more like a younger version of her.

"If you aren't comfortable..."

"I'm fine! Really, I just... didn't expect you to... take the offer... kind of."

"Well, to be honest, I wasn't sure if you were serious or not, all those times you asked, I'm not exactly... sure about this whole thing..."

"So you're still...?"

"Well yeah, I'm only fourteen, it's not like I go around town trolling for... you know... Wait! You mean you?! You haven't-"

"No, I haven't. With the amount of people that dislike or fear me in this town, anything like that would be... non-consensual, shall we say."

"Oh... uh, sorry for bringing it up."

"Well, on the bright side, neither of us will know what the hell we're doing, should we both be serious about this... are we serious about this?"

"Long as you're okay with it..."

Vicky realized he had cleverly switched their roles, now he was asking her if she was ready, rather than the other way around. "I asked you, didn't I?"

"Yeah..."

"Well then, I'll see you in there...?"

"Just... gotta grab my clothes..." Vicky quickly left the room.

After grabbing his clothes and a towel for himself, he left his room and approached the bathroom door, then knocked twice. "Vicky?"

"You're like, sixty seconds from seeing me naked, and you're knocking?"

"Well, just being respectful..."

"Good thing too, else you'd have been hit with a bar of soap. Come in."

Timmy opened the door and was hit with a blast of steam and hot air.