I don't own these characters. I also don't own the original premise behind this saga. I do own Todd, Jayden, Mayah, Raziya, Bokuden, Aztek, Romah, Nobunaga, and Chyna.

Reason Fifty-two: Final act

They're going to be leaving their nests soon and, yes, they will be missed. But, we're all so proud of them. Hopefully, the world is ready for such extraordinary and insane people.

"Wow, guys, hard to believe we're going to be graduating in a couple of months," Mayah commented with a small smile on her face, speaking to her usual three friends. They were lounging against a grey wall while having their lunch outside in the sun since it was a beautiful spring day. Most of the people that had lunch that period were outside, eating lunch and socializing. They were also seniors now; Mayah being seventeen while the other three were still sixteen.

They were all still filling out their body shapes. Mayah was still the tallest among them, much to Bokuden's dismay. He was the second tallest, but he was hoping for another growth spurt to put him over the top. Raziya and Jayden were not too far behind in height, but Jayden was still the smallest among them in both height and weight.

"It's about time," Raziya said while biting into a carrot stick. She wanted to throw her hands up and celebrate. She was certain that college was going to be way better, less annoying, and much more challenging than high school.

"What? I'm going to miss this place. No more Barkin to drive out of his mind!" Jayden declared with a huge grin as she leaned over and shamelessly bit into half of Bokuden's onigiri since he was holding it in his hand, but not eating it. He just looked on, not even in disbelief because it was not something that was new. He seemed almost bored with her actions.

"But, no more getting into trouble thanks to Barkin," Bokuden pointed out with a brief nod while finishing off his snack now that Jayden was done eating half of it.

"What? I love getting him all riled up," Jayden said with her typical impish grin, clapping her hands together. She rubbed her palms together for a moment like a plotting demon.

"We know," her friends chimed in altogether. They all rolled their eyes. They knew all too well how much Jayden liked getting to the dean. She was making the man go gray from what they could tell.

Jayden was going to say something, but a classmate interrupted them. She was a nice girl that the group knew as well as they knew any other classmates that could claim to be friends with them. She had to know them fairly well because no one that was unfamiliar with them would dare approach them. After all, they had crazy reputations and typically backed those up with their insane actions. She greeted them with a bright smile while leaning down to talk to them since they were all sitting on the ground.

"Hey, guys, do you want to help raise money for the prom and play a little game?" she asked them. She was delightful-looking brunette with shoulder length dark brown hair that hung freely. Her hazel eyes seemed to shine as she glided through school. Whenever the crew saw her, they thought she appeared to float when she walked.

"Keep talking, Jess. You've got our attention," Mayah replied while putting down a bottle of water that she was drinking. The others looked vaguely interested, which was about all any of the classmates ever got from them when making propositions and announcements.

By now, their classmates knew that they would never truly be friends or even seen as peers with the group. It gave them a reputation for being stuck-up, even though their classmates knew they were not really snobs. There was just an air about them that let people know that they would never be on the same level in the group's eyes. With Mayah and Raziya it came out a bit more than Bokuden and Jayden, who just seemed a bit friendlier as they were more open to smiling than the other pair.

"I just need you guys to give me one dollar and I'll give you these surveys. You fill them out and get them to the prom committee's meeting room by the end of the week. Then in a couple of weeks you get the results back and they tell you ten other students in the school that you're compatible with, so it sorta helps you find a prom date if you need the help," the classmate explained with a friendly smile glued to her face. She was the type of person to smile most of the day, so she was a very pleasant person to be around in the crew's opinions.

"Just a dollar? You won't raise much money with that," Raziya commented in a matter-of-fact tone. It was not like their graduating class was very big while their prom had better be fantastic in her opinion.

"We don't need much. The ticket cost covers a lot of the things, but we're raising some more money for extra stuff and we don't want the parents to help out with donations and things. We figured we students should handle it since it's our prom and we should make a bit since we're going to sell one school wide and not just to the senior class," the girl, Jess informed them with a small smile.

The friends nodded, all for showing signs of independence. Hell, that was one thing that they had been trying to do almost all of their lives, they figured anyway. They would not mind seeing what their classmates would cook up on their own. Hey, despite what their classmates thought, they did have faith in quite a few people that they got to know over the years.

"Sounds cool. Here, we'll help out," Bokuden said while going into his pants' pocket and pulling out his wallet. He pulled out a five and reached up to hand it to Jess. She leaned down to meet him halfway; her brown hair spilled slightly over her shoulders.

"This is for all of you?" Jess asked curiously, motioning to the four friends.

"Yeah, sure. Keep the change, too," Bokuden replied coolly, almost smoothly. A lot the girls around school thought that he was smooth while his friends thought he was kind of lazy. To the girls in the school, his laidback attitude was cool while to his friends it was just pure laziness on his part. Sometimes, his friends would even just say that he was slow when it came to moving, nothing cool about it in their opinions.

"You're so sweet. I know you'll have no problem finding a date," Jess said to the blond with what the girls considered a flirtatious smile.

"Why not jump in his lap while you're at it?" Jayden teased, making a kissy-face while she was at it.

Jess only scoffed, knowing that Jayden was joking. "You're probably going to end up going by yourself," Jess taunted Jayden while handing the friends a paper each.

"She's got you there, Jade," Mayah commented smugly, nodding to further show her agreement.

"Fuck, no. If push comes to shove, I'll take you, Mayah," Jayden replied with a playful smile. She nudged the older girl with her elbow, having to lean over Raziya to make that move.

"I hope you don't think you'll get lucky at the end of the night if that's the case," Mayah remarked with a scoff. She also rolled her mismatched eyes. Like hell she would go to any sort of formal party with Jayden as a date, even if she did go out with girls. She got enough craziness just from being the younger girl's best friend, after all.

"Speaking of me, lemme ask you something, Jess," Jayden said while turning her attention back to their classmate.

"It's not going to be stupid, is it?" Jess inquired, earning a couple of chuckles from Mayah and Raziya since they knew that Jess was only teasing. They were comfortable around a few people in school that could get away with such a question and earn laughs from the crew.

"Most things coming from Jade are stupid," Mayah pointed out in a dry tone.

"Anyway, this romantic compatibility thing you're talking about, does it include both sexes or are you going to give me back ten dudes, knowing I don't like guys?" Jayden inquired. She was quite serious about it too. She was not going to waste her time if she was going to get back ten boys when she was so certain that she was homosexual.

"Goddamn it, Jade, you're not a lesbian!" Mayah huffed and she looked ready to strangle her friend.

Raziya was glaring at Jayden right along with Mayah. How the hell could a girl that never showed signs of a romantic interest in anything at all believe she was a lesbian?! They could not figure it out and they did not see why a so-called intelligent person like Jayden could so openly swear that she was gay when they did not even think she went through puberty yet. They just meant that in the way that Jayden never seemed to look at anyone like that. As far as they were concerned, Jayden was asexual.

Jess only shook her head. The group was rather amusing when they were given a chance, she thought. "Jade, if you read the thing, you'll see there's a box you can check for what you want to get back. So, you guys should do that, just for the fun of it," she told them.

"I don't need to do it. I already know the perfect guy for me," Mayah said with a dreamy smile. Her mismatched eyes seemed to shine as she thought of her perfect guy.

Jess looked at her with a confused expression. Actually, she looked damn near scared. Mayah was the "tough" one in the group, so to see her all starry-eared was like seeing the grey sky before a powerful storm rolled in. It was like a warning to run.

"Uh … yeah, so we'll fill that out quick and drop it off, if only for the fun of it," Jayden told Jess, just so she could get away before Mayah disturbed her even more. Jess took the chance to bid them farewell and get away from there before Mayah did get creepier.

"Are we really going to do this?" Raziya inquired curiously while looking down at the survey with slight disgust. There were better things that she could do with her time, she figured.

"Why the hell not? What's the harm, right?" Jayden shrugged nonchalantly.

"It does give us something to do for lunch. You know, aside from eat my food," Bokuden remarked, looking at Jayden with that last bit.

"It's not my fault you just sit there with it in your hand, not eating the thing," Jayden argued, turning to look back at him.

"You didn't give me a chance," he pointed out, arms flying out to the side to emphasize his point.

The youngest scoffed. "You were just holding it."

"I just took it out the bag," he stated. Jayden rolled her eyes and made a mocking face. He rolled his eyes, too, and playfully shoved her very lightly. She laughed a bit.

Mayah and Raziya shook their heads to the exchange. The friends all then turned their attention to the survey. They read the questions and looked at the choices that they had; it was multiple choice for the whole thing. They then went into their book-bags, looking for pens to fill the sheets out.

-*-(New day)-*-

"You should see the cost of this fucking prom dress that Mayah wants," Betty complained over the phone, speaking to Shego. They were trying their best to relax on their day off, but they knew that was not likely to happen until the kids graduated. There was just so much to do!

"Tell her she got off easy," Kim informed Shego, her face pressed against hot green skin, nuzzling always-tantalizing flesh.

They were lounging on the sofa, curled up together since they had the house to themselves. Mayah and Raziya decided to come steal Jayden away and torment her by making her go shopping with them for prom accessories. The house was quiet for once, so they were definitely going to enjoy it.

"How'd she get off easy?" Shego inquired curiously, glancing down at her wife.

"Mo is making Razi's dress," Kim answered, still focusing on nice flesh more than anything else. "She could have to make Mayah a dress from scratch."

"Oh, wow. Hey, Bets, you got off lightly. At least you only have to buy a damn dress," Shego told her best friend with a bit of a laugh. One hand held the phone while the other busied itself by rubbing Kim's back.

"You got off the easiest. I'm shocked Jade's even going to this thing," Betty remarked with a laugh of her own. She was lounging around her own house, thankful that all of the kids were gone. She figured it was a miracle since it was peaceful and quiet in her home. She almost forgot what that was like.

"Mayah threatened to shoot her in the knee with a rifle if she didn't," Shego replied with another hearty chuckle.

"Oh, I thought that was just their usual barking at each other when she said that the other day. What's Jade doing about an outfit? Is she going in her usual Care Bear attire?" the one-eyed woman asked in a teasing tone, an amused smile gracing her features.

"No, that was in with the threats to make Jade go to the prom. We're handling what the mini-monster will be wearing. Gotta admit the little imp isn't in a hurry to find a date," Shego commented.

"Oh, the little lesbian can't find a date," Betty hummed. That did not surprise her. She would be more surprised if Jayden found a date on her own and actually showed some interest in the person as far as being actually physically attracted to the person. And she meant person because she was not totally sold on Jayden being gay either, no matter how much the girl wanted everyone to believe it. But, then again, she would not say that Jayden was straight either since she never had crushes or romantic feelings for anyone, not even celebrities.

"Jade's not even looking for a date and even if she was, she'd probably not find one on purpose. She's not interested in girls, despite what she wishes the world to believe, and she refuses to look at boys. Jade might be working toward building a career as a monk," the pale woman joked with a laugh.

Jayden was not showing any signs of leaning toward either sex. She was too interested in getting into stuff from what everyone else could tell. They figured that simple attraction just had not caught up with the hyperactive girl yet. Her parents were not sure what they were going to do when she did show interest in someone because they really could not see her pining away for someone or even in a relationship.

Betty chuckled a bit from picturing Jayden as a monk. "I hope she has a plan B if that's the case."

"Knowing her, she's got a plan for every letter of the alphabet, but they're all only half-baked. So, Mayah's handling the limo, I hear," Shego said.

"Yeah, she wanted to have a hand in this beyond spending up a bunch of money. So, she's arranging the limo. I worry about who she's going to find to take her as a date," Betty commented, sighing a bit. She sounded slightly concerned.

"She's mature enough now to know that she should leave Smiley alone," or so Shego hoped. Betty did not respond to that one and she was actually making a skeptical face to it.

-8-8-8-8-

"So, you two find dates yet?" Mayah asked Raziya and Jayden as they wandered the mall. She sounded a bit interested, even though she could guess the answer from each of her friends.

Bokuden had escaped the fate of accompanying them to the mall by volunteering to drive his little brother and Romah to the arcade. He had never been so happy to be in a car with those two maniacs. He hated shopping with the girls, especially Mayah and Raziya because they shopped like it was a competitive sport. Jayden liked to act like she was above that, but if there was something that sparked her interest, she could rival her friends in shopping.

"I'm not even trying. The last thing I want to do is plan on having a good time and find the one component that could F.I.U," Raziya commented with a scoff and rolled her sky-colored eyes.

"Why do you assume a date would fuck it up?" Mayah inquired with a puzzled voice and a craned eyebrow as she turned to look at the tan teen.

"Because he'd do something stupid undoubtedly. Most of our classmates are idiots," Raziya pointed out as if her friends did not know that.

"I hadn't noticed," Mayah and Jayden commented sarcastically at the same time.

"Yeah, so I probably won't even take a date. What about you, Jade?" Raziya inquired, although she could guess that one.

"I dunno." Jayden shrugged. "You guys know me."

Raziya and Mayah shrugged, too. Jayden had yet to show an interest in dating, which they thought was weird. But then again, Jayden was weird, so they did not put too much stock into her odd behavior. In a way, it made sense that Jayden had not shown any signs of attraction to anyone.

Mayah actually had not shown much interest in dating either, but they all knew why that was. Raziya just seemed to have high standards and had not made it through a date since starting the activity almost a year ago. All in all, two out of three of them were quite aware of being failures in romance.

"So, you're gonna try to get Booger to take you?" Jayden asked Mayah with a teasing grin curled on her face.

Mayah only smirked. She was going to get her Todd to take her to the prom or die trying. Her friends did not say anything. They just wanted to see her work her magic. If anyone deserved to take Todd to the prom, it was her, after all.

-*-(New day)-*-

"Hey, guys!" Jess called to the crew as she trotted down the hallway of the school. The foursome turned to see the brunette girl running up to them.

"What's up?" Raziya inquired as the friends stopped.

"I've got your survey results for you," Jess informed them as she started digging into a folder that she was holding.

"Survey?" Jayden echoed, totally confused as to what their classmate was going on about.

"Oh, that's right, it's been a busy couple of weeks for you, so there's no way in hell that you'd remember something like the survey," Mayah commented, laughing as she spoke.

"Survey?" Jayden echoed again. She had had a busy couple of weeks, running around in some jungles with her Mom. They had been hunting for new species of cold-blooded critters and doing all sorts of crazy things that most people probably did not think a sixteen-year-old should be doing or even could be doing. She had also been on a few missions with her Mom and her brother, as well as doing a couple missions solo. The survey that they took a fortnight ago was just about the last thing on her mind.

"Just give them to us. Jade'll stand here wondering what the hell you're talking about for the whole day," Mayah said to Jess while Raziya tried her best to explain to Jayden just what survey they were all going on about.

"Okay, here you guys go," Jess said while pulling out four sheets of paper. She handed one to Mayah, then Bokuden, then Raziya, and then Jayden.

"Thanks a lot," they all mumbled and Jess trotted off to go deliver other surveys to people.

While Raziya, Jayden, and Bokuden looked down at their surveys, Mayah unceremoniously balled hers up. The three friends had to gaze up to see what Mayah was up to. She went to a trashcan and disposed of her survey without even looking at it.

"Why'd you do that?" Raziya inquired with a puzzled expression on her face. What was the point of even taking the thing if she was just going to throw it away?

"Because Booger doesn't go to this school," Jayden realized with a chuckle.

"Yeah, there's no chance of Smiley being on the list, so what's the fucking point? I don't give a damn about anybody else," Mayah commented with a nonchalant shrug. She was not going to waste her time looking over a bunch of boys that she did not even care about. It had been fun filling out the survey, though.

"Well, let's see who they screwed us over with," Jayden remarked and they all looked down at their papers.

"Holy shit," Raziya muttered, actually swearing, so that let her friends know that things were serious. They all turned their attention to her.

"What's it say?" Bokuden asked curiously. He leaned over a bit, trying to take a look at her paper. How bad could it be, he wondered.

"It says the person I'm most compatible with in this school is the fucking dirt-bomb! This list is total bullshit! How the hell could he be the first guy on this list? It's pure bullshit!" Raziya hollered in disbelief. She actually appeared offended with the results. Well, more the first result than anything else on the paper. She did not even notice anything after the top result.

"When you say 'dirt-bomb' do you mean…" Jayden could not even finish that thought. She just pointed to Mayah while Jayden's face scrunched up in utter confusion.

"Yeah, do you mean…?" Mayah also could not finish the question. She looked just as lost as the youngest amongst them did.

"Aztek," Raziya said in a low voice and her face fell. The aforementioned dirt-bomb was actually trotting up to them.

"Hey, did you get this fucking list?" Aztek demanded, speaking to Raziya while flapping a paper around. He was now teenager of average height with a slender build. He was a track star at the school and had a small, weird fan club. It was weird in his big sister's opinion, anyway. But, then again, he would say the same of the fan club that she and her friends had, and they did have a little cult following for reasons that they tried to act like they did not think about.

"Yeah, I got it. You don't read too much into it either!" Raziya commanded, annoyed that he would even approach her waving the stupid list in her face.

"I'm not, but this thing is bullshit, remember that. I don't even like you!" Aztek lied. He thought of Raziya as a friend, like Jayden, he mentally insisted. A friend that he liked pestering the hell out of. Oh, it was so much fun getting on her nerves, but he never thought of her as anything beyond that!

"I never liked you!" Raziya pointed out in a roar. Through out their lives, Aztek did nothing but get on her nerves with his disgusting, annoying, and amazingly loud behavior for someone with such a small voice.

"Then keep that shit up!" Aztek ordered with force. He then did something irksome, hitting her in her little nose with his paper and then he sped off laughing.

"You little bastard! I'll get you back later!" Raziya screamed up the hall, shaking her fist at the fleeing goy.

"You know…" Mayah was about to offer up a very unwanted theory, so Raziya cut her off.

"Don't even fucking say it!" Raziya commanded the older girl with a finger in the elder teen's face. She knew that some insane theory like that she subconsciously liked Aztek was about to come out of Mayah's mouth. She did not want to hear any of her friend's pseudo-psychobabble.

"Fine, fine, fine," Mayah said with a shrug. She did put the idea in the back of her head that despite how much Raziya and Aztek liked to pretend they hated each other, they always did give each other a lot of attention. Yeah, it was mostly negative attention, but they still paid each other a lot of mind. She could not help wondering.

"Who do you guys have, anyway?" Raziya asked Jayden and Bokuden while trying to fix her tense face.

Jayden and Bokuden both looked down at their results, finally getting a chance to take in the words on the paper. They then looked like they had both seen a ghost at the same time, color draining from their faces. Their friends were quite intrigued by such reactions; could they have actually had something better/worst than Aztek?

"Who's it say?" Mayah and Raziya asked curiously, speaking at the same time.

Jayden and Bokuden were too stunned to speak. They merely pointed at each other while looking up, their expressions showing the very definition incredulous. Mayah and Raziya were not sure if they should laugh outright or if Mayah should just demand the ten dollars that she and Raziya bet two weeks ago that Bokuden would end up on Jayden's list. They made that bet after erasing the check that Jayden put in the box requesting just girls in her results. They decided to laugh because Jayden was actually speechless with the results.

"Look at her face!" Mayah said, cracking up and pointing right at Jayden. The olive-eyed girl was still in such disbelief that she could not respond to such disrespect toward her.

Raziya just laughed harder. She needed a good chuckle after that crap with Aztek, she thought. Bokuden managed to get over his shock; and there it was he thought the list was just a stupid bit of nonsense. He glanced at Jayden, who was still so stunned that she of all people was speechless.

"I think they broke her," Raziya commented with a giggle, poking the youngest in the forehead.

"She short-circuited," Mayah remarked, still laughing.

"What the FUCK!" Jayden screamed at the top of her lungs after almost thirty seconds of sheer silence. Mayah and Raziya only laughed harder. When Jayden went home, she told the story to her parents and her mothers had the same reaction to her friends; they laughed long and hard. Jayden did not take kindly to the reaction at all, but then again, Bokuden had not taken kindly to her reaction.

-8-8-8-8-

Jayden was laid out on her bed, trying to go to sleep. She was plagued by the list and how it proclaimed that she was romantically compatible with Bokuden. How weird was that? They might as well have told her that she was romantically compatible with Raziya while they were at it. She shuddered in disgust just thinking about it.

She was taken out of her thoughts just from sensing movement out of her window. She knew that it was Bokuden more from habit than anything else. He was the only moron of their group that continued to test her mothers' security system to see if his skills were worthwhile. Not to mention he had to sneak out of his own house, which was also a test of his skills. She sat up as he came through the window.

"Bo, this is gonna get you fucking killed one day," she commented with a bit of a laugh. She made sure to speak in a low voice.

"Well, this is the best way to get a serious conversation out of you," he pointed out in a whisper of his own. Talking to Jayden alone on the street or even in a house, one had to rush through words because it was only a matter of time before some crazy thought or something amusing around her distracted her. But, in her room right before she was going to go to bed, there was nothing to pull her from the conversation and she liked to hear him out just to get him out of the room before her Mommy came in.

"Why, what's to talk about?" Jayden asked curiously.

"The thing…" he answered while looking down at the floor, which was littered with books and parts to god-only-knew-what. He would not be surprised if there were living things crawling and slithering around on the floor, too.

"The thing?" she echoed with a puzzled expression that he was able to see since his eyes had adjusted to the dark before he even left his home.

"The list thing," he elaborated while making strange, meaningless hand gestures.

"Oh, the list. Don't worry about it, Bo. Those guys are just loopy. After all, they paired Razi with Az and we all know how they get along," Jayden said, thinking that she was comforting him. She figured that he had to be as bothered by the thought as she was because she thought that her feelings were natural.

Bokuden chuckled a bit, mostly because he did not know what else to do. "You know, for someone so smart, you say some really dumb things," he commented while shaking his head.

Jayden was taken back by his words. Usually, he was last person amongst them to insult her. Hell, Chyna was known to say more offensive things to her than Bokuden. And for once when an affront was said to her, it actually hurt Jayden because it came from him.

"Wha … what do you mean?" Jayden managed to ask, her voice smaller than a whisper and it had nothing to do with the fact that her Mommy was sleeping right down the hall.

Bokuden sighed and just decided to go with the most straightforward approach to the whole thing. "Jade, will you go to the prom with me?" he requested, looking her in the face despite how shy he was feeling at the moment.

"Well, yeah. I'm going with all you guys, after all," she pointed out. She was not looking at him, her feelings still stinging from his insult. "But, now tell me what you meant."

"You're doing it again," he commented and he laughed a bit since most of the time that she did say something subtly stupid and completely oblivious, it was cute. Well, in his opinion, anyway. "Jade, I know this is going to seem like a foreign concept to you, but I actually like you." He made the statement with no fear or hesitation.

"That doesn't explain why you said I say dumb things," she grumbled, looking away with her mouth curled up.

Bokuden sighed again and went to sit next to her on the bed. He leaned back, comfortable in the space despite the fact that he would be dead before he knew it if Shego or Todd happened to enter the room for whatever reason. It was just difficult to be uneasy in a place that he had been in thousands of times, even if those times were mostly when adults were aware that he was there or their other friends were around. He looked at her from over his shoulder since she was by the wall.

He supposed he could not blame her. She seemed stuck in the same adolescent mindset that she always had. He was not sure how it worked because he knew that since puberty certain things almost never left his mind. He just controlled himself rather well.

"I'll make this plain for you, genius. I like you and I want you to go to prom with me as my date. Not as a friend in a group, even though we're going to do that, but I want you to be my personal date. We would take a picture together, we'll dance, and if all goes well, I get to kiss you at the end of the night. Anything more and I won't live to see college, after all," he explained with a little laugh in the end and she looked absolutely stunned. He might as well have just told her the moon was made of cheese from the expression on her face.

"Wait, Bo … you mean … you actually like me like me?" she asked in a puzzled tone and he nodded. "Since when?" she hissed to keep from shouting. Damn it, she wished that he sprang that news on her in the daytime so she could be yelling.

"Hmm … I guess since about tenth grade. That's about when I noticed you had a killer body," he remarked, teasing her since she had been built like a little boy until about last year. Now, she had a body just like Kim's when Kim was her age.

"Seriously," she urged him with a smile on her face and she nudged him with her foot. She did not know what else to do. She really just wanted to freak out, but she refused to be loud at the moment. No matter how weird this was, she did not want to get Bokuden killed.

"Well, it was about ninth or tenth grade. Then these feelings just kinda came out of nowhere. I mean, I think I always liked you, but just never realized it until tenth grade. I thought we always had something. I don't know what the something is, but it's something," he explained as best he could.

He wished that he was better with words and better comprehended what was going on with him, so he could be sure that he got through to her. He guessed that he was just going to have to hope that her so-called genius mind understood him. He also hoped that he was right about his feelings and that he was right in telling her. He did not want to ruin one of the best friendships of his life, after all. Although he doubted that just telling her was going to mess anything up between them. They had been through so much already, after all.

Jayden was silent; she never really noticed that something. It was just the way that she was around him, always had been and she figured that she always would be. She did not think that it was something special, but now that he brought it up, she was thinking about it. There was something between them that really did not exist between her and their other friends, but she had never really thought about it. After all, she got along differently with Mayah and Raziya, just like she got along differently with Bokuden, but still there was something to it. She was not sure if he was guessing right as to what that "something" was, though. After all, if pushed, she would say that had "something" with Mayah and Raziya as well and she knew that something had nothing to do with romantic feelings.

"Bo … how do you know this something means you like me?" she asked curiously, an eyebrow in the air.

"I dunno. I just do," he replied with a shrug. It was the best that he could do. He wished that he could think of something better, if only to insure that she would go along with him and hopefully realize something of her own. He was pretty sure that he liked her, anyway.

Jayden scrunched up her face and scratched her head. Apparently, she did not deal well with ambiguous notions/emotions. Was she feeling the same something as he was? She did recognize and acknowledge there was "something" between them. She was not sure if it was what he meant, though.

She was supposed to be a lesbian, she reminded herself. Maybe her emotions were not on the same side as her brain, though. Or maybe Bokuden was misinterpreting what they had between them. Well, in order to find out, she would have to experiment, her mind told her. That made sense, so it was time to do research.

"Okay, Bo, I will be your date for prom," she informed him with a nod for good measure.

Bokuden was almost certain that he had not heard right because he had thought that things would be much harder than that. He looked at her with a near-insane expression on his face, like she just told him that she was actually an alien from outer space. It was her turn to laugh as she caught sight of the look etched on his face.

"Did you…?" he asked, unable to finish because he was scared to find out the answer.

"I just accepted. Now, get outta here before Mommy comes in here. They do check on me every now and then to make sure my loopy ass is still in the house," she answered. Sometimes, they checked on her and her "loopy ass" was indeed somewhere that was not her bedroom.

"Okay, but just to be sure, you accepted being my date, right?" he inquired to ease his mind and stop his heart from beating so fast.

"Yes, I'll be your date. Now, unless you want me to be carrying you around in a coffin or an urn to dance, you'll get the hell outta here," she ordered, pointing to the window.

Bokuden laughed a bit and made a quick, happy exit. He had a prom date. Better still, he had a prom date with Jayden! He could not be happier with his life at the moment; obvious signs of insanity his other friends might say.

-*-(New day)-*-

"Prom's nearly a week away. You ask Smiley yet?" Raziya asked Mayah, turning to look the older girl in the face. The pair was dragging Jayden through the mall again. It seemed that no matter how much she cussed or whined, they did not care that she did not want to go.

"No, I'm going to ask him soon, though. Jade, you don't mind, do you?" Mayah inquired to make sure. She looked down at the gloomy girl, who was walking in the middle. It was in case she tried to run.

"Why the fuck would I mind? Unless of course minding would get me the hell out of this place with you two prissy bitches," Jayden complained bitterly. She looked quite sour, her arms folded across her chest and a deep frown on her face.

"You know, you're crankier than usual," Mayah commented, looking down at the shortest among them again. "Is it because you're going to the prom with a certain blond ninja whose onigiri you always eat?" she teased with a rather evil smile. Her mismatched eyes sparkled with devilish delight because she knew that she struck gold as far as material to use against the raven-haired girl.

"Shut up," Jayden grumbled and scowled. She snorted a bit, too, just to make her point.

"We should go find Miss Grumpy Jade a cute outfit for the prom to make sure Bo is happy," Raziya teased, putting her arm around the younger girl's shoulders and rocking her back and forth a bit.

"Why not just skip to some cute underwear? I'm sure that'll make Bo really happy," Mayah remarked with a huge, taunting grin. She then had the nerve to pat Jayden on the head.

"Goddamn it! Cut that shit out!" Jayden said while tearing away from both girls. She glared at the pair with the fires of Hell blazing in her olive eyes. "That's fucking gross!"

"I didn't think of that," Raziya said thoughtfully to Mayah and then she turned to Jayden. She waved an authoritative finger in Jayden's face. She then sounded very much like the big sister that she was. "Now, now, young lady, there'll be none of that on the first date," she ordered.

"Shut the hell up, both of you," Jayden grumbled unhappily since cursing them out did not seem to work. Teasing her about her personality was one thing, but the fact that they were taunting her because she had a date was a new kind of animal to her and she did not like it much. "Who are you going with anyway?" Jayden asked Raziya.

The other scientist's expression fell almost instantly. Her friends were quickly interested in why that was. Mayah had a theory of course, as she was never short on those, but sharing it might have sparked some heated yelling in the middle of the mall. Hell, it could possibly lead to a fight if she said it in a certain way.

"You know, the results of that damn survey have been really bugging me," Raziya admitted and Mayah practically screamed in triumph on the inside.

"Have you realized they're right?" Mayah inquired, a new devilish smile curling onto her full lips.

"W.T.F do you mean 'they're right'? Like hell they are!" Raziya objected with a passion. Her sapphire eyes seemed to ignite.

"Umm … no, they're really right," Mayah argued, putting up her index finger as if that made her words more true.

"Can I field this one?" Jayden inquired, raising her hand just to be silly.

Mayah motioned for her to take over. "By all means. If you see it, then a fucking blind man could see it."

"You make it sound as if you two go around doubting my genius," Jayden commented, smiling a bit.

"No, it's your common sense we doubt. We doubt that shit exists," Mayah quipped with a good-natured smile of her own.

The youngest of the trio laughed a bit. "Anyway, I think the whole thing with you and Az is based on the fact that you pay a hell of a lot of attention to each other," she said to Raziya. Personally, Jayden figured that they paid a lot of attention to each other because Aztek liked getting on Raziya's nerves and Raziya refused to just let him. But, she was aware that Mayah had a thing for trying to look beneath the surface, which was why she knew the theory buzzing around in the eldest's head.

"That's because the little filth-monger is always getting on my nerves!" Raziya argued. Her eyebrows bent in and her mouth turned downward in a scowl. He was such a little bastard, she thought. Ah, she hated him!

"Well, just imagine if one day the nut decided that bugging you was boring, like everything else in his life. One day he just stopped annoying you," Mayah proposed, thinking it would help.

"I'd die a happy woman," Raziya declared as if it was obvious.

"You'd live the rest of your life wondering why the hell he stopped paying attention to you," Jayden remarked in a low tone while shaking her head. She was smiling a bit because it was fun not being taunted for once.

"I'd love it," Raziya insisted.

"Uh-huh," Jayden and Mayah chimed in together with skeptical tones. They also nodded simultaneously.

"Look, Razi, you should do like me," Jayden said, being about as serious as she could be about a subject that had nothing to do with science or adventures.

"And what would that be?" Raziya inquired, almost scared to hear the answer.

"It's called research and experimenting. Now, I don't know if I like Bo the same way he likes me. I never really thought about it, so by accepting being his prom date gives me a chance to figure that out. You could figure out if you like Az by taking him to the prom … and us threatening to tie him to the tree in the backyard and beating the living shit out of him if he doesn't behave," Jayden explained plainly.

"I don't like Az," Raziya insisted through gritted teeth.

"If you say so," Jayden replied with a shrug.

Despite her insistence of disliking Aztek, Raziya allowed the thought plague her mind. Was she really romantically compatible with such a filthy urchin? Well, he was fairly intelligent, discounting the fact that he liked being dirty for whatever reason. Intelligence was something that she looked for in a guy. He was fun to be around, when he was not purposely irking the hell out of her. He did not mind the fact that she was smarter than he was. It was something that got on the nerves of a few guys that she dated. They were interested in a few of the same things, some things that other guys viewed as strange, like the fact that she enjoyed taking things apart and putting them back together, sometimes in a different form then their original make. Damn it, was she really compatible with Aztek of all guys? She did not want to believe it. She refused to believe it.

-8-8-8-8-

The trio of girls went to Mayah's house for lack of a better thing to do and Mayah wanted to show off her prom dress. Raziya disappeared for a minute, in search of Aztek. She found him in the backyard, playing basketball by himself. He was not very good at it, but he still liked the sport.

"Hey, you!" Raziya called in a heated tone, as if she was angry with him.

"What the hell do you want?" Aztek asked with a huff while turning to look at her in mid-jump shot.

"You're taking me to the prom. You will be on time in picking me up. You will dress nicely in a brand new suit. You will remain clean for the entire night. You will make sure I have a good time. Is that understood?" she demanded.

Aztek was caught off guard by her commands and so distracted that he fell when he landed from his jump. He was not hurt and kept his shocked gaze upon her. He noticed that she looked completely serious.

"What makes you think I'd take a geek like you to the prom?" Aztek inquired with a frown.

"Because I said so. Mayah'll go over more rules for you later on, but that's the gist of it. So, you're taking me, got it?" she informed him with a growl.

Raziya walked away before Aztek could answer, which was a good idea. He would have had to decline if she waited for a response, as it would have bothered her if he did such a thing and he could not pass up such an opportunity. He sighed and laughed to himself.

"I'm just as screwed up as the rest of this bunch," he said to himself. "But, at least I'm screwed up with a hot date." He grinned. Hey, while he liked pissing her off, he would never dispute that the girl looked good and she was great to be around, annoying her or not.

Raziya tried not to think too much on what just happened. It was just an experiment, she told herself. An experiment that she doubted would go anywhere, but at least she was willing to try.

She went upstairs to Mayah's room, which was huge and littered with weapons of all types along with plenty of weapons' and computer magazines. Mayah and Jayden were by Mayah's large closet, looking at the prom dress. She joined the pair.

"Well, Mayah, you're the only dateless wonder now," Raziya announced in a neutral tone and matching expression.

"Well, then, I'd better get on the ball," Mayah commented with a smile. She clapped and rubbed her hands together.

-*-(New day)-*-

Mayah caught Todd when he was home alone, resting from his latest trip out into the field. Jayden had phoned her to let her know that Todd was there all by his lonesome. So, it was time to get what she felt was the perfect prom date.

"Hey, Mayah. Jade's not here," Todd informed her as he opened the door thanks to her knocking.

"That's okay. I'm not here to see Jade," Mayah replied in a plain tone while stepping into the house.

"No?" Todd asked and it took him less than a second to know who she was there to see.

"Smiles, I have to ask you something," Mayah said, turning to look him square in the eye. He was the only person that she had to look up at to speak directly to; most other adults she was level with.

"Mayah, I know what you're going to say," Todd replied with a sigh. He had been dreading the moment. He wished that she had just found a regular guy from her school to take her to the prom, but it seemed like she was insistent on going with him.

"Then you know what you have to answer," Mayah argued, desperation already edging its way onto her face.

"How's that?" he asked curiously. He was certain that he had to decline, but that could not be the case as far as Mayah was concerned with the way that she was approaching him.

"Smiles, this is my dream. You have to take me to the prom. I'm not asking much of you, just take me to the prom," she implored him with a pleading, sorrowful look in her mismatched eyes.

Todd sighed; why did it seem like all the girls around him knew the expression to give him that just about broke his heart? She looked like he would shatter her whole world if he said no. He looked down nervously, rubbing his head and further messing up his short crimson hair.

"I just want you to take me to the prom, please," she begged him quietly, eyes glued to his. Her eyes just looked raw with emotion and need. "Just give me this one thing," she pled.

By now, being seventeen, Mayah understood that she sort of frightened Todd. He did not understand the intensity of her affections or where it came from and, really, she did not either. She just knew that she loved him with all of her heart.

"If you take me, it'll be a dream come true and it'll make my prom an exceptionally special day for me, which isn't supposed to be for girls my age," she pointed out.

Todd rubbed his forehead. He always swore that he was doing such a fine job running away from Mayah, yet whenever he looked back, she was right on his heels. It seemed like she passed him at the moment and tackled him, halting his running for the time. But, he was going to struggle for a bit longer.

"Mayah, I'm sure there's a great guy that'll take you," he replied.

"Yeah, you," she stated firmly. It was not something that she was going to be talked out of. It was him or nothing, like always. "I'm just asking you to take me to the prom. I'm not asking for anything else. Just be my escort."

"Mayah, you really should go to the prom with someone else."

"I'm not going with someone else. You're going to be my escort or I'll just be a fifth wheel to everyone. Simple as that," she informed him plainly.

Todd sighed again; the guilt just kept on building. He merely stopped struggling. Mayah had him for the moment. It was the first time, but they did not know it would not be the last time.

"Fine, I'll take you," the redhead mumbled, lime eyes focusing on the floor instead of her.

Mayah grinned. "Thank you, Smiley!" she proclaimed and grabbed him into a tight hug.

From the feel of the embrace, he could tell that he really had just made her day. He then pulled out of the hug, causing her to laugh a bit. She was too happy to be offended by his actions.

"Don't worry, Mister Smiley, you'll not get away from me so easily," Mayah promised him with a smile on her face. She even winked at him. He was hers and one day, she was determined to make him realize that. Todd only gulped; he knew that he had just agreed himself into some trouble.

-*-(Prom night)-*-

The crew was all gathered at the Possible-Gooding household; it just seemed to be their default meeting place. Their families were with them. Adults were fussing over clothing while also trying to snap pictures. Many of those would be sent to grandparents and uncles that could not make it to the event, but would be there for graduation next month. Younger siblings were giggling over all of the formal wear, except for Chyna, who just wanted to know when she would get to wear a nice dress and go to the prom. Betty promised her youngest child that she would be able to follow in her big sister's path soon, and it would be way too soon for Betty.

"Oh, god, I love your shoes," Raziya practically cooed when she saw what Mayah had on. She looked rather to burst from happiness, despite the fact that she was still skeptical about having Aztek as a date.

"Yours are cute, too," Mayah chimed in, eyes shining with delight because of the magic of the night.

Mayah was dressed in black, showing off a figure that made her parents quite nervous and had for a couple of years now since it easily caught boys' attention. Her dress went down to her feet, fitting sleekly until hitting halfway down her calves where it flowed out. The dress would have touched the floor, but she was wearing high heel, open-toe black shoes. The shoes had thin straps that wrapped around her ankles and the heel was open too. Thin straps tied around her neck held up her dress. She had on simple, but expensive diamond necklace, matching earrings, and a slim tiara crowning her head. Her hair, which was cut short now, was styled to almost completely cover her brown eye.

"It seems like they were babies just yesterday," Betty muttered, glancing between her daughter and the other teens.

Raziya had gone with a lilac gown, which had been handmade by her mother. There was golden trim marking it around the waist with a small strand of golden cloth falling from her waist to her side. There were no straps holding the dress up, much to Felix's horror. A line of gold went around the top edge of the dress, highlighting the light caramel skin that was left on display. Her shoes matched her gown, which were also high heels and a bit higher than Mayah's shoes. In fact, they were also the same height thanks to the extra inches on her shoes.

"Hey, you two, smile," Monique told the girls as she came out of nowhere with a camera.

Raziya and Mayah wasted no time in striking a pose for the camera. Monique laughed as she snapped the shot; it was hard to believe those two were actually tomboys. As soon as the flash faded, Mayah and Raziya looked around the living room, which was where they were.

"Where's Jade?" they both wondered aloud.

"She'll be down in a second," Todd answered while entering the room and fiddling with his tie. Shego was by his side, pulling his tie in the opposite direction than he was doing. He sighed and just gave up, letting her do whatever she was doing.

Mayah's jaw practically hit the floor when she caught sight of Todd, even though it was not her first time seeing him dressed formally. It was the first time that he was her date, though. Well, her escort, but that was close enough for her. He was dressed in a jet-black suit that he filled out quite well thanks to his tall, thick build. His jacket was longer than most, going passed his knees. He had on a light, lime green vest with a black tie. He wore black shoes and had his hair combed back, but hidden underneath a black bowler hat, which had a green feather in it. The hat was cocked to the side. It would seem that he was taking his job as escort seriously.

"You might wanna pick up your tongue before you get dirt on it," Raziya remarked while nudging Mayah with her elbow.

"Huh?" Mayah muttered in such a daze that she did not even notice her mother approach Todd.

"Smiles, if you do anything to my daughter, I will shoot you, several times in the chest and head, without mercy," Betty whispered to the young man while patting him in the chest with force. It actually hurt quite a bit.

"And I won't stop her," Shego promised her son with a nod.

"What is wrong with you two? You know I'm not gonna do anything!" Todd protested in a low voice with wide, horrified eyes. The only reason he was even taking Mayah was because she looked so heartbroken when he tried to decline. It was nothing more than that!

"I just want us to be clear on it, buddy-boy," Betty said in a dead serious tone.

"I'm just going to take her to the prom and the after-party thing, nothing more than that," Todd insisted. Betty nodded, even though she knew that he was not going to be planning anything with her daughter.

"Make sure they don't run off to do something stupid in those prom outfits, too," Shego commented and she was not referring to what stupid things teenagers usually do after prom. She was referring to what those impulsive, insane kids might do, like try to do a mission once they figured out that the prom was boring.

"Gotcha," Todd said with a little salute.

"And please watch your sister," Shego implored Todd with a tired look in her eyes. She did not even want to think about what trouble Jayden could get into and lead her friends into while everyone was dressed in very expensive formal clothing.

"I got, She-she," he promised with a small smile. He was surprised that Jayden had not made their mothers hair turn completely grey.

"Mommy, take a picture, please!" Mayah begged with a grin as she came out of nowhere and attached herself to Todd's arm.

"Okay, calm down, Mee-mee," Betty said with a sigh as she raised her camera. Todd actually had a panicked look on his face when she took the picture.

Shego chuckled a bit and walked into the living room. She thought that Todd was making a mistake in taking Mayah to the prom, but Kim had thought that it was such a sweet gesture. Shego believed that it only encouraged Mayah more, which they were all trying their best to avoid. Betty agreed with her, of course, but found it hard to say anything to Mayah when she saw how excited her daughter was because Todd agreed to take her to the prom. Besides, Shego had to concede that nothing that they had done in the past had curtailed Mayah's feelings, so it might just be best to let her run her course.

Shego stopped thinking about her son and Mayah and went over to Bokuden, who was dressed in all white. His parents were fussing over him just like everyone else's. He looked like he would like an excuse to escape, but would rather a different one than the one that showed up.

"Lemme borrow your golden boy for a second," Shego said to Ron and Yori, who did not object. They knew what was coming had to happen, so they watched as Shego pulled Bokuden off to the side.

"Don't get blood on your good suit, bro!" Nobunaga called with a laugh. He was sitting in the corner with Romah, laughing over everyone's prom gear. They thought that their older siblings looked downright ridiculous.

"Um … Auntie Shego, I know just what you're gonna say," Bokuden muttered, looking at her. The kids typically tried to make eye contact whenever they spoke because that was how they were raised. Sometimes, they failed, but it was not often.

"Look, Bo, I know you're a good kid, crazy, but good. Still, if my little monster comes home with a mark on her, I don't care what the mark is, I'm going to kill you and not with my plasma. I'm just going to gouge out chucks of your flesh with my bare hands until I've torn you apart," Shego promised him, sounding so casual that he knew she was serious.

"But … what if she gets into a fight?" Bokuden whimpered. He was going out with a very wild girl, after all. Jayden could easily get caught in a scuffle and get bruised.

"Try to make sure she doesn't. Her outfit cost a lot of money," the pale woman remarked, a devilish smile on her face.

"Make sure she doesn't get into a fight?" Bokuden mumbled. It sounded like the impossible, especially if Jayden got some nutty idea in her head.

"Yes. She is to come back here unmarked and don't keep her out too late. I get really suspicious about stuff like that," Shego said. "I don't think you want that, right?"

Bokuden gulped and shook his head. "No, ma'am."

The green-skinned woman nodded and smiled. "Good, and also, if this dating thing works out between you two, no more sneaking into her room late at night or I'm going to think something's going on. You don't want that, right?"

The blond boy looked totally aghast; Shego might as well have told him that she was going to skin him alive and then eat his flesh from the look on his face. He had a feeling that she probably would do that if he did not heed her warning and cease sneaking into Jayden's room. He could not believe that she knew, which she could tell and why she was smiling like she was Satan in the flesh. She patted him in the chest and let him go back to his parents. He appeared rather nervous.

"Don't worry, Bo. You're an honorable man and Shego knows that," Yori reminded her son as she fiddled with his buttons.

Bokuden's jacket was buttoned up, showing off his golden buttons that had dragons painted on them in black. His jacket had Mandarin collar and his white shirt on the inside was the same. Yori ran a hand down his white jacket, as if she was brushing away dust that was not there.

"You look very handsome," Yori said with a proud smile. The young man blushed a bit.

"Thanks, Ma," Bokuden muttered.

"Don't let Jade talk you into messing the suit up," Ron remarked with a smile and light laugh.

Bokuden laughed a bit. "I'll try my best not to." He hoped that Jayden just focused on the dance and did not let something distract her. He wanted to enjoy himself, but he wanted her to enjoy herself even more.

"You know what, actually, don't let Jade talk you into just about anything beyond dancing and having dinner," Ron commented after thinking about it for a moment. He did not even want to imagine what might happen with that group at the prom, especially if anyone of those girls got some crazy idea in her head.

"Ah, can we get moving!" Aztek complained from his seat on the couch, which earned him a whack in the hit from his date. His face scrunched up for a moment, disgruntled from being struck.

"You promised to behave," Raziya scolded him.

Aztek simply made a face while waving Raziya off. She silently admitted that he looked good when he was not covered in layers of grime. He was dressed in a three-piece cream-colored suit with a white shirt. The suit had been altered to fit him and his slightly awkward frame. He wore the suit well and had entered the house as if he was on top of the world. Really, no one could tell him anything because he knew that he looked good.

"Okay, but seriously, why aren't we leaving yet?" Aztek inquired, glancing around the house. Patience had never been his strong point. He was not even really looking forward to the prom, thinking that it was just going to be a night of boring dancing and slight behaving. He was going to mess with Raziya despite his promises of behaving.

"Look around the room and tell me if you see Jade and then you'll have your answer," Raziya countered.

Aztek made a mocking face with a hand gesture that earned him another hit. He was ready to threaten her that if she hit him again, he was going to go home, but he honestly did not want to go home. He wanted to go out with Raziya, which he chalked up to just wanting to bug her like always. That was the only way he could explain it because he knew he was not looking forward to dancing and hanging out, which was something they could do at anytime.

Aztek would have continued complaining, but suddenly Felix came over to him. He smiled a bit nervously, but felt a little better when he saw his mother pulling Raziya aside. It seemed that there were a lot of talks going on.

"Aztek, I'm going to be blunt about this one," Felix said to the young man. "Razi is my only child and my pride and joy, you disrespect her at any point tonight and I'm going to put your brain into a cleaning robot," he promised.

The onyx-eyed teenager laughed out of anxiety. He had no doubt that Felix would do such a thing. Well, it was a good thing that he had no plans to do anything with Raziya.

"Don't worry, sir. I think Razi's really gross and wouldn't touch her unless I've been rolling in mud first," Aztek declared with a proud grin.

Felix shook his head. He was actually certain that Aztek would not do anything to Raziya, just like the other parents were about their daughters' dates. It was just that they were not used to sending their girls off for a whole night when danger was not involved. It was a bit nerve-wracking. Betty actually had that anxious feeling for both her son and daughter, which was why she was now talking to Raziya.

"Don't corrupt the boy on this night out," Betty ordered Raziya.

"Please, in his dreams," Raziya scoffed, rolling her eyes, too. "I wouldn't touch him with a ten foot pole considering the fact that he'd probably give the pole the Plague."

"I know, just don't…" Betty said.

Raziya nodded to show that she understood, even though Betty did not complete that thought. She guessed that she was getting the talk because she was the older one between her and her date. She did not feel too bad about being a year older than Aztek and going to the prom with him. She was mostly worried about him keeping his word and behaving. She went back over to him when Betty set her free.

"Why the hell is it always one of you girls that make us late?" Aztek griped. He was making the blue-eyed girl feel like she knew how the little experiment was going to end already.

"Because some of us care about how we look," Raziya commented, rolling her eyes.

"Jade cares about how she looks?" Aztek inquired incredulously. Jayden was a sixteen-year-old girl that still wore Care Bears on most of her clothing and her idea of "doing her hair" was to put in a loose, messy ponytail. To him, those were not signs of a person too concerned about how she looked to the outside world.

"Touché," Raziya conceded the battle right there. She wondered what Jayden could be up to. She did not have to wonder long.

"Mom, get away from me with that thing!" Jayden hollered as she practically flew down the stairs to escape Kim. It was a bit surprising that she could move so swiftly in the shoes that she had on.

"Sweetie, just let me do your eyebrows!" Kim called.

"No!" Jayden cried out. "Mommy, stop her!" the teen begged while dashing into the living room and looking to hide behind her Mommy.

"Shego, hold her!" Kim shouted as she hit the bottom of the stairs.

Shego acted as if she did not know what was going on and did not move to hold or hide Jayden. The teen's usual baggy and Care Bear-covered clothing was abandoned for the night for an elegant emerald green dress that went down to her ankles. Straps that crisscrossed around her back held up her dress. Her hair was done up in a bun with bang in the front that was swept to the right side of her head. She circled her Mommy, trying to avoid her Mom. Jayden easily moved around in the black, heeled sandals that she was sporting.

"Jade cleans up better than you do," Raziya remarked with a teasing smile, speaking to Aztek.

"I think that's a clone they bring out for special occasions. No way Jade looks that much like a girl just from putting a dress on," Aztek argued with a laugh. He was shocked to see that Jayden actually had a real figure and he was going to make fun of her later on … after he was certain it would not get him slapped by Raziya or Jayden.

"Her shoes are really cute," Mayah said to Raziya, referring to Jayden.

"Will you two shut up about shoes!" Aztek groaned, throwing a hand over his face.

"Why? If you must know, your shoes are hot, too," Raziya informed him. Although she was telling the truth in her opinion, she said it just to bother him. It seemed like everyone had brought out their best shoes, which seemed right since they were all in their best clothing.

"Mommy, yell at her," Jayden whined to Shego, talking about Kim. She pointed at her redheaded parent while making sure to continue avoiding her.

"I'm going to yell at both of you if you don't stop this nonsense. The limo's outside waiting, after all," Shego pointed out.

"Just let me do your eyebrows, baby," Kim pled with their daughter.

"No, I'm sick of the makeup thing. Do Mayah's eyebrows!" Jayden suggested. She could not believe her Mom had talked her into putting on makeup in the first place, but the eyebrow thing was going too far for her.

"My eyebrows are done and they look fucking great," Mayah commented with a shameless smile.

"Okay, okay, okay! Enough of that! Let's take pictures of the cute couples," Betty said and then she glanced over at Todd. "Or girls and their escorts," she added.

All of the teens, plus Todd, lined up for several pictures from all directions it seemed. They took pictures altogether as a group, as couples, individual pictures, just the girls, just the boys, and several other various shots that included Mayah posing with Chyna. Todd took a picture with Jayden. They proceeded outside, where pictures continued being taken on the lawn and in front of the waiting limo. They even took pictures with their parents. It took them over an hour to make into the car. As the parents watched the car drive off, they sighed, realizing that they had just made it passed one of many milestones that were to come that year.

They were going to have to watch the crew graduate in a few weeks. They were going to have to send them off to college, too. They were going to have to let go. Their kids had grown up. Where had the time gone?

-8-8-8-8-

The end. Really.

I want to thank everyone who took the time to read this series, even though some of the most frustrating points when I know quite a few people jumped ship on it. I hope you all enjoyed the ride as much as I did. I also want to thank my main beta-reader, Mouse who has been here since The Gods Must Be Laughing and has been sticking to me ever since, helping me get ideas as well as proofreading my work. Also, I want to thank Claymourne, who beta-read through The Gods Must Be Laughing.

If you still have questions about the universe, feel free to ask. I'm not opposed to writing a few short stories in the universe, but there will be no more long, almost-epic sized stories for this universe. This was it.

Thank you all again. Until the next story, I've got to return to my little padded room and straitjacket. So, hasta…