Disclaimer: I own none of the cartoons used within.

Well, here it is, ladies and gentlemen! The last chapter! (-sobs-) Ohhh, wahhhh, I'd like to thank the academy...

No, but on to some serious thanks: Blue Paratroopa (the first reviewer!), Ranger24, ENZIO, Dracozombie (in the end I think my sentence tagging is still wonky), Dark Phantom Knight, Epically Awesome Insanity, sikana83 (so many cupcakes!), NonSequiturs-R-Us, Movie-Brat, OMG it's WickedJelly (I totally heart concrit), Colton M.H., Dernier Cri, The Shadow Syndicate, Hajime Morikawa, Casa Bonita Rocks My Socks, avatarjk137 (betafish), and anyone I may have forgotten (so sorry if I did!). I wish I could write you all a little note here, but that would take a long time, and I bet you're all sick of me by now.

Thanks to all of you who have kept with me through this: slow updates, bad sentence tagging, Double D on cocaine, annoying self-inserts, and all that jazz.

Chapter 17: XO

Jack Spicer clacked away on the keyboard attached to his flat-screen, work-issued Mac. Going wide-eyed, he watched intently as he closed the windows for /shop and as loaded up.

"JACK!"

His speakerphone. Groaning, Jack listened to the shrill voice continue.

"Have you yelled at that intern yet?"

"No, when he comes back with my coffee I will."

"Do you have the outline?"

"For the article on latest in coloring for computer-animated people?" Despite the fact that this article wasn't the right one for someone with such an important position, he still figured he should contribute to continue making an even bigger name for himself (this would make points for versatility), and besides, he was happy to be doing anything that wasn't the focus of Timmy Turner's sudden death (OD).

"No, for the scolding."

"Oh! Duh. I start out with an overused but still classic 'What were you thinking? How could someone even do this without trying?!' then balance it out around the middle with 'I've made some mistakes, but never this stupid!' and end on 'If you want this job…!' with notes of 'This isn't even the right coffee!'."

"And that's why you're assistant editor."

"I know, thank you."

"I remember when you were in your days of being tossed out the window of high-rise CEO offices..." A pause laden with nostalgia, then, "Well, I've had my share of flashbacks for the day. Later."

The intern came in after the speakerphone's little red light went off.

In walked Omi, with his spherical, yellow head. "Your coffee, sir?" Even his annoying, accented little voice was the same. The only thing that had changed was that Jack's former overly righteous enemy had swapped his righteous red robe for a righteous button-down and tie.

Jack snatched the coffee and stared at it, then gave it a sip. He smiled and sat up, motioning for Omi to sit down. He checked his reflection in the mirror and was glad to see his line of thick, black ink was in its rightful place under his eye – one of the few things besides Omi that hadn't changed over the last two years.

And his coffee was indeed made wrong.

Which just made life even better.

--

Two girls walked down the streets of Tokyo. Clad in the typical schoolgirl uniforms but still unique, they conversed as they walked.

The first girl had a cute little face and long silver hair pulled back in pigtails. She had two odd chunks of plastic sticking out from under her ears that resembled a game controller. "Thank you for letting me stay over last night, Miho-san."

"It was no problem," The other girl was a pale Goth girl. Purple hair, hacked short, except for bangs entwined with little black ribbons that cascaded into her overly made-up eyes acted as support for this theory. "So, are we stopping to see Piro-san this morning?"

"Yes, though I doubt Piro-niisan will remember that we are coming," The gray-haired girl's voice took on a bothered tone. "I don't think he cares."

"I'd be surprised if he didn't remember. You called him 20 times last night."

"It doesn't make him any less of an idiot."

"Cut!" Eddy called out. "Good. Good. Yeah. Okay, so next scene we cut to Piro's house, where's Piro?!" He ranted as the girls walked off the set, giggling about something.

"In the bathroom, reading comics again," Susie Carmichael, Eddy's assistant of a year and half now, smiled as she handed him an energy drink and a schedule she had just made a fifth update to do that day. Even his selfishness, sarcasm, and bossiness considered, Eddy was a much better boss to her than Timmy Turner was.

"Ha ha," Eddy grabbed the energy drink and ignored the schedule. His cell phone blared his old show's whistle. "Oh. It's Double D." He flipped it open. "What?"

"I was just making sure that you're coming to the rehearsal dinner."

Eddy looked up at Susie in shock, demanding an explanation, as if she had even heard it. She was tapping away on her Blackberry with a content look on her face. Again Eddy said, "What?"

"MY rehearsal dinner! Eddy, you forgot!!"

"Oh! That one! Yeah. Uh… Double D… that's in a month."

"…But you have to put it on your schedule. Now. Please. I don't know what you'll be doing in a month."

"Fine," Eddy covered the mouthpiece and leaned over to Susie. "Can you get me a different flavor energy drink? This tastes annoying." He uncovered the phone. "Done."

"Thank you, Eddy."

"So your chick's catering the dinner or something?"

"Can you please not call her that?"

"FINE. So Ms. Hay Lin is catering the wedding, right?" He exaggerated a prissy tone on her name. But it was mostly for show; Eddy liked Hay Lin better than Jenny. She and Double D had been a couple for a year and half. She dressed in weird clothes, was a former main character in a kids show like the Eds, and gave the Eds free Chinese food. What wasn't to like?

"Yes. Her family is." Double D's smile could practically be heard over the phone. "They like me."

"You've said that about six hundred times. Now, onto business matters. When the hell are you going to be done with these stupid wedding planning days? Your substitute set manager… your little assistant…" Eddy paused to look at Fanny, Double D's assistant, who was currently yelling at some poor intern (tears of fear gathered in his eyes) and stomping on a clipboard. Her hair was bright red, matching her personality. She was a good match for Double D as far as assistants went; her hyper-assertiveness compensated for the fact that he wasn't assertive at all. "She's a good yeller and a bad set manager, Double D. I'm scared. And I'm the freakin' director-"

"I'm sorry! You know today was the last wedding planning day off until the date is closer."

"Good… I should think so… what the hell is a 'wedding planning day off' anyway… barf…"

"Goodbye, Eddy."

Eddy got up out of his seat and tossed the cell phone onto the crafts table. "Done stocking up there, Lumpy?"

Ed stared at the table with grave seriousness, his hand to… where his chin would be if he were to have one. Ed was the crafts service manager. The food he picked to set out was rarely balanced and nutritious and was always unusual (and sometimes foreign) but it never failed to entertain and the menu was different each time the table was set up.

Ed shook his head.

"What do you need?"

"Cheese."

"… You only have dairy on the table today, Ed, except for the marzipan."

"Need spicy cheese!"

"I'll order it for you."

Ed dropped his professional, pensive manner. "Spicy cheese makes a lot of fun in my belly." He laughed. "It hurts."

"Glad to hear it!" Eddy smiled and walked back to his director's chair. "Come on, people. Back to work. Next scene at the girls' house. I need Kimiko and Erika there, where the hell are they? Chop chop. Susie, can you ask them for some spicy cheeses? Thanks, whatever. COME ON. Let's get the ball rolling! Come on, I'm not getting any younger over here…"