The full moon hung above the Turner household, bright and yellow in the cloudless night sky. The season was Autumn, just a few weeks into a new school year, and a few days into the month of October. The crisp air was beginning to cool as the end of the year drew ever closer, and already, the leaves on the many trees in Dimmsdale were beginning to turn from their natural green color to vibrant reds, oranges, and yellows, indicating that it wouldn't be long before they fell to the ground, forcing the city's denizens to sweep and rake them up into piles, only for the youngest members of the population to dive into those piles and cause their parents and older siblings to have to rake them up all over again.

In the previously mentioned household slept one of said 'youngest members', his name being Timmy Turner, who currently slept quite comfortably in his bed, with his comforter pulled up to his chin and around his small eleven year old form. Every now and then, an air bubble would float up from the tiny castle in the fishbowl on his nightstand, popping as it reached the surface of the water with a noise that sounded suspiciously like snoring. Finally, next to the fishbowl was a digital alarm clock, indicating the time as a quarter past twelve.

Aside from low snoring though, and Timmy's slow, steady breathing, the room was silent, quiet enough that one could hear a pin drop if they listened for it.

Yet suddenly, the silence was broken as the knob of his bedroom door began to slowly turn, only to let out a low click as it held fast, the knob's lock keeping it from turning any further. The next sound was that of someone on the other side releasing an annoyed huff of air, followed by-

Tap-tap.

A low, barely audible rapping sounded from the other side of the door, sounding not unlike a fingernail tapping against thin wood.

"Nnh..." Timmy shifted slightly, but did not awaken, and simply pulled his comforter a bit tighter around himself.

Knock-knock-knock!

Three light yet loud knocks hit the brunet's door, reverberating off the walls of his room and scaring him awake. "Gah!" Timmy's eyes shot wide open as he instantly sat up in bed and looked around, his eyes taking a moment to adjust to the darkness of his room. "Urgh..." He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and reached for his alarm clock, turning it to face him. "Twelve... Twenty?" The boy questioned, soon realizing it couldn't have been his alarm clock that woke him up.

Thud!

Timmy jumped at the noise coming from his bedroom door, this time sounding like someone had cocked back their fist and punched the poor, thin wooden door. "Hm..." The boy hummed in thought as he threw his comforter off and hopped out of bed; wearing only a t-shirt and boxer shorts. "Mom and dad... They wouldn't be back already... Probably wouldn't bother waking me up this late, either..." Timmy covered his mouth as he yawned and stepped over to his bedroom door, turning the tiny switch-like knob set into the door's actual knob to unlock it, before hesitantly turning it and pulling the door open.

"So you are awake." Timmy's babysitter, Victoria Valentine, though she usually went by just 'Vicky', stood just outside his doorway in the hall, dressed in similar sleeping attire to Timmy, amounting to little more than a lime green, midriff-baring tank-top and black cotton shorts whose length didn't even reach the middle of her thighs. The seventeen year old's hair was messy and disheveled, as if she'd been tossing and turning in her sleep, and her eyes looked tired, with slight bags having formed under them. This, coupled with her somewhat slouching posture, made the red-head look a fair bit less put together than she usually did.

"Yeah, someone was wailing on my door like Francis does when he needs lunch money from me or my friends... Didn't happen to see a tall gray teenager around here, did you?" Timmy remarked in a tired, sarcastic tone, one he wouldn't ever use with his babysitter under normal circumstances, but her waking him up twenty minutes past midnight was definitely not normal.

"Still dealing with Francis, huh?" Vicky chuckled, remembering the days when she used to babysit the strange gray boy. "...You tell him you're my property. He'll leave you alone..."

"...Will that actually work?" The boy asked, unable to keep the hopeful tone out of his voice. To be clear, he didn't like the idea of being Vicky's 'property', but he certainly disliked being bullied and having his lunch money stolen on a daily basis.

"Hehehe... It will if he knows what's good for him..." The red-head chuckled darkly, making a familiar fearful shiver run up and down Timmy's spine.

"Um... Okay... So if you're..." The brunet brought his right hand up to his left shoulder and rubbed at it nervously, knowing there was always a catch when his babysitter was involved. "...You want something in return, don't you?" Timmy asked in a matter-of-fact tone, making his question sound more like a statement.

"Yep, you catch on quick, Twerp." The older teen smiled, but, whether it was because of how tired she looked, or something else entirely; she didn't seem all that happy. If the boy had to describe it-

"That's probably the saddest smile I've ever seen..." Timmy thought to himself, absently scratching his ankle with his other foot. "So-"

"Mind if I come in?" The red-head interrupted, but held her ground, surprising even Timmy, as he expected her to say this while pushing past him and coming in regardless of how he responded.

"In... Here? My room? Uh... Why? ...And since when do you ask to do anything?" The eleven year old questioned uneasily, his eyes briefly darting over to his fishbowl, which still had little bubbles floating up from the tiny castle inside.

"Because I'm a vampire, here to drink your blood, and I need to be invited in... Ooh~" Vicky remarked playfully as she stuck her arms out toward her charge and wiggled her fingers at him.

Timmy shot his babysitter a flat, unimpressed look, then brought his hand up to his mouth to cover it while he yawned again. "Since you did ask... I... Guess you can come in..." He took a step back and moved to stand next to his bedroom door, allowing her to come in and walk past him.

Vicky took a few steps into the room, stopping just short of the middle of it before she wrapped her arms around herself. "Brr... Is it me, or is it kinda chilly in here?"

"A little, yeah." The brunet rubbed his arms, feeling a bit cold himself, now that the older girl had mentioned it. "I like to keep the windows open at night, easier to sleep that way."

As if on cue, a cool breeze blew in through one of the open windows, making both of the room's occupants shiver as it came through, and blowing Timmy's bedroom door closed with a slam.

"Huh. Weird." Vicky shrugged as she took another quick glance around the room, then strode over to and plopped down on Timmy's bed, bouncing up and down slightly from the force.

"You're one to talk..." The brunet thought to himself as Vicky bounced again, seemingly testing his bed's bounciness. For the first time in... Well a long time, he didn't feel too threatened by the red-head. She wasn't being loud, mean, or even remotely bossy, and if anything, was actually fairly pleasant to be around, at the moment. Still, this was Vicky, so it wasn't entirely outside the realm of possibility that her current behavior was just an act, one she was putting on for the express purpose of getting the elven year old brunet to drop his guard. "You-Er... Still haven't... Told me why you woke me up, or wanted to come in my room..."

"Well... I mean, c'mon... Isn't it nice for me, your favorite babysitter, to come up here and check on you? Make sure you're... Uh... Y-Y'know... Sleeping... Alright?" The red-head stammered out nervously, her cheeks stained a barely-there shade of pink as she avoided making eye contact with her charge.

"...I was sleeping alright, then you started knocking on my door." The boy replied tiredly, rubbing his eyes again in an effort to stay awake. "And why-" He yawned again, this time not bothering to cover his mouth. "Why are you awake anyway? Aren't you tired too?"

"Ehehe... Maybe a little..." The older teen self-consciously rubbed her right shoulder as she rolled her eyes. "See, the uh- The thing is..." She suddenly looked up at Timmy, her cheeks pinkening a tiny bit more. "W-Would you... Can you c'mere a sec? Just... Sit down, right here?" She patted the spot next to her on the bed, bidding that Timmy join her.

Feeling much too tired to refuse(and thus, probably start an argument), Timmy shuffled over to his bed and sat down in the spot his babysitter had indicated, his weight causing him to bounce like she had. "...Okay, I'm sitting...?"

"Ah, right. So, um... H-Here's the thing... I don't... Normally sleep over at the houses of the kids I babysit... Actually, your house is the only house I've ever slept over, because all the other kids' parents are usually just at work, and come home around five or six." Vicky pulled her legs up onto the bed and sat cross-legged, her hands resting on her knees. "But eh... Your parents pay me... Really well, so I don't mind doing it, under normal circumstances, but..."

"But... What?" Timmy asked somewhat impatiently as he shook his head, doing his best to will his fatigue away. "Is... There something wrong?"

"See, I... Darn it... I dunno how- ...I need to tell you something, and I need you to promise to keep it a secret, alright?" The red-head paused every now and again as she spoke, almost as if she'd be penalized in some way if she said what she wanted to say. "It can't, I repeat can not leave this room, understand? It's really personal."

"So... What? Like a secret or something?" The brunet queried with a hint of interest, though he felt like his brain was having latency issues, as every word he spoke or action he preformed seemed to take place roughly one second after he thought of it, rather than immediately. "Ugh... Vicky, I'm probably ten seconds from falling backward and going right to sleep... Can you just tell me, please? I promise I won't say anything to anybody."

The older teen paused for a moment, seemingly considering the genuineness of her charge's words, before muttering a curse under her breath. "...Ahm... I usually sleep in my bed, or on the couch, if I have to sleep over here; with a- Um... With this... Y-Y'know... Pink teddy bear my mom gave me when I was young...?" Vicky's voice increased in pitch as she spoke, until it became a high-pitched, nearly Tootie-like squeak as she finished.

"...Come again?" Timmy asked flatly, sticking his left hand's pinky into the corresponding ear to ensure he hadn't heard wrong. "A teddy bear."

"We-Well don't look at me like th-that! Lots of people have things like that! Some have a blanket from when they were young, others have a special pillow or a night-light... Even you have those two fish, Cosmo and Wanda? I've heard you talking to them now and then! It's not the same as sleeping with a blanket or something, but... Wh-What's it matter if I-" Vicky caught herself, and allowed her voice to drop down to a more inside-friendly volume. "If I sleep better with... A teddy bear...? It's not like I named it or anything..."

"Ehehe..." The eleven year old giggled quietly as he scratched his nose, finding the very idea of his normally abrasive and sometimes downright evil babysitter sleeping with a teddy bear-a pink teddy bear-to be hilarious, though even with how tired he was, he knew better than to outright laugh at the girl. That could be hazardous to his health. "N-Nothing-Heehee-I guess!" He shook with subdued amusement, before letting out a puff of air and getting his giggling under control. "I just never figured you would be the type to need a teddy bear to sleep, that's all."

"Well unless you wanna spend the next month wearing that frilly maid dress, I suggest you keep it to yourself, got it?!" The seventeen year old whispered out harshly, narrowing her eyes at the boy.

"Hey, I said I won't, and I won't!" Timmy put his hands up defensively, palms facing the older girl. "...So... Why tell me then? Do you need to go home and grab it or something?" He asked bemusedly, a slight grin playing at his lips.

"I don't think that's a good idea..." The red-head remarked with a sigh, her gaze dropping to her lap. "I'm too tired to drive home in the dark, and even if I wasn't, I really shouldn't leave you here by yourself, not even for a few minutes..."

"Okay...? So... What're you gonna do then? It's not like I can drive to your house and get it..." Yet again, Timmy yawned, covering his mouth with his hand like before, due to his proximity to his babysitter.

"Well I..." Vicky hesitated again, then shifted back and forth a few times on her rear-end. "I'm not really having an easy time sleeping downstairs on the couch without... Y'know..." She glanced over at the brunet out of the corner of her eye, her cheeks turning a visible shade of pink as she tried to force her words out. "And since I'm doing you a favor with Francis, I was wondering if... I could maybe sleep in here tonight? With-Um... With you?"

"In h-here?" Timmy asked nervously, his eyes drifting over to the fishbowl containing his godparents. "I-I mean, I g-guess you c-can... Let me just- I h-have some extra b-blankets and pillows in t-the closet, so I could... Probably make a bed on the floor..."

"On... The floor." Vicky repeated in a monotone voice. "What for?"

"Huh?" Timmy had already begun to stand up from his bed, but took pause at his babysitter's question to look at her, meeting her tired pink eyes. "Well... For me? Because... You are a girl, so... I figured I'd let you take the bed? Why, do you want to sleep on the floor for some reason?"

"Well no, obviously not..." Vicky absently drummed her fingers on her right knee, then once again shifted back and forth uncomfortably. "But... When I asked if I could sleep in here with you... I really did mean with you. The bed's big enough for both of us, and I... Um..."

The brunet watched his babysitter's cheeks turn a brilliant shade of red as she quickly looked down at her lap in embarrassment. "Why is she so nervous tonight? Is it because she's really that tired? ...If only she could be like this a little more often... It's a lot better than her usual attitude." Timmy staved off the urge to verbalize his thoughts into a wish and gently sat back down on the bed, finally beginning to understand what Vicky was asking of him. "So... Stop me if I'm... Wrong here, but... You... Want me to... Be a replacement? For your-Um..."

The red-head nodded just once, and very quickly, answering the question she'd been anticipating from the boy. "L-Look, I know we... Don't exactly get along, and I'm not your favorite person in the world by a longshot, but... I'm having a really hard time getting to sleep, and... And you'd really be helping me out, so...?"

"Mmm..." Timmy hummed in thought as he glanced over at the far end of his bed, where his pillows, covered slightly by his comforter; laid. It was true what she said, there was enough room for the both of them to comfortably sleep in the bed, and Vicky would have her own pillow... "I should really, really just tell her no, it's not like she'd do the same for me, if I was the one asking..." He looked back over at his babysitter, who every now and then would glance over at him out of the corner of her eye. She was clearly tired, but even more than that, she almost seemed ashamed, though he wasn't sure if it was because she hated having to admit her mildly embarrassing sleeping habit, or because she needed his help now, and thus held some regret for the way she'd treated him in the past. "Urgh..." He rubbed his temples tiredly as he staved off the urge to yawn again. "If... If you're really having that much of a hard time... Then I guess it's alright..." Timmy felt his own cheeks heat up with a slight blush as he finished, his gaze cast down at his lap in a lame attempt to hide it.

Vicky released a small sigh of relief, feeling a weight lift off her shoulders as she realized that, despite her usual(admitted) mistreatment of the boy, he apparently didn't hate her. "O-Okay... Cool, um... S-So how do you... You wanna lay down first and get comfortable, and then I'll... Lie down behind you, or...?"

"Er... Y-Yeah, I think... That'd work..." Timmy muttered sheepishly as he slid his legs back up onto the bed, then crawled toward the headboard before lifting up his comforter and crawling under it, his head coming to rest on the pillow closest to his nightstand. Once he felt that he was sufficiently comfortable, he looked down toward the other end of the bed, where Vicky still sat. "W-Well... I guess I'm comfortable, so...?" He lifted his comforter up with his left hand, inviting the red-head to share it with him.

The seventeen year old hesitantly shifted herself onto her hands and knees, then crawled across the bed like Timmy had, before finally slipping under the comforter with him and lying down behind him, settling her head on the pillow next to the one his occupied. "Th-Thanks, by the way... I really do appreciate... This, Timmy." She reached up and grabbed the corner of the comforter he was holding up, bidding that he let it go before she threw it over the both of them.

"It- It's um... D-Don't mention it. ...Like, really don't. I'll never hear the end of it from Chester and AJ if they found out about... This." Timmy finished with a weary sigh, then fidgeted as he felt a slender arm snake under his own left arm and wrap around his chest; pulling him until his back pressed against his babysitter's strangely soft chest. "Um... Wh-What are you...?"

"In case I didn't explain it well enough a few minutes ago, I usually cuddle with my teddy bear when I sleep, and since you're filling in for it..." Vicky remarked with a sly grin. "Although... There is a bit more of you to cuddle..."

The brunet felt a cool, mostly bare leg brush against both of his and lay itself on top of them, making him unintentionally shiver from the contact. This was soon followed by a light pressure on the top of his head as Vicky rested her chin in his hair. "O-Oh... Alright then..."

The seventeen year old smirked down at the boy's mostly calm acceptance of the situation, considering she'd been under the assumption that her mildly intimate contact would turn him into a stuttering mess. "You don't mind?"

"I... A-Actually no, this is... It's a little weird, since it's-um... You, but it's... Kind of nice, to be honest..." Timmy admitted shyly, hoping his babysitter wouldn't take what he said the wrong way.

"Nice, huh?" The red-head questioned absently, realizing that, for once, Timmy was right. Maybe it was just because she was tired, but Vicky found that it was actually strangely pleasant to hold the boy close. He was familiar enough to her senses to fill the role she'd established for him as a replacement for her teddy bear, yet it also felt like much more than that. Timmy breathed, he responded when she talked to him, and he fidgeted at her touch, but didn't try to get away, either. In short, he was alive, and there was just something about lying in bed with another person that put her mind more at ease. "Hm... Y'know... I might just leave my teddy bear at home when I have to sleep over here from now on..."

"But... I thought you... You needed it to sleep?" The brunet muttered out tiredly, already feeling the warm grip of sleep beginning to take hold of him... Or maybe that was Vicky.

"Nah... I think you make a good replacement... How do you feel about... Timmy-Bear?" The older teen joked, a slight giggle escaping her lips as she finished.

In response, Timmy looked over his shoulder at the girl, bearing a flat and unimpressed look as he quirked an eyebrow up at her new nickname for him. "I think I prefer 'Twerp'..." With that, he turned his head and faced forward, his eyelids steadily feeling heavier and heavier. "But I... I guess I wouldn't complain if you... M-Maybe needed to s-sleep in here again..."

"Hehehe... Is that an offer...? Timmy?" Vicky lifted her head slightly to peek over her charge and see his face, only to find that he'd drifted off to sleep, his expression content and peaceful. "Huh. Kid's cute when he's asleep... Kind of is when he's awake too." She gently laid her head back down on her pillow, another nearly silent giggle escaping her lips. "'Night, Timmy."