If lovin' you is wrong: Christmas with My New Daddy
Disclaimer/Author's Notes: Kim Possible and all the characters of the show are owned by the Disney Company. The original lyrics to the songs referenced in this story and the music are the property of the respective authors, artists and labels. All other characters can be blamed on the author (he, however, is not responsible for all of their actions at all times, being barely responsible for himself most of the time).
This is a strictly not-for-profit, just-for-fun work.
Enjoy! Please read and review.
A/N Forward:
What happens when you turn an 11-year-old loose in 2029 at Christmas when her parents are Dr. Wade Agamemnon Load and Barrister Tara Bluem Load?
I'm writing this for two very special young ladies in my life… you can probably guess who, but I won't tell you until the end of the story.
Thanks in advance for reading, and please review.
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Chapter 1: secrets
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Kathrine Elizabeth Load had a hidden smile in her heart.
Christmas was coming, after all, and she'd already gotten the bestest Christmas presents ever:
She had a new Daddy who loved her, and
She had a mother who loved her and was so much happier than Kathrine had ever seen her.
Her parents had surprised her at their wedding with the final papers, confirming her adoption and name change to Kathrine Elizabeth, what she'd always called herself, and Load, for her new father. She owed them, big time, and she was planning to pay, this Christmas.
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Ever since her mother had come home smiling, bigger than Kathrine had ever seen her smile in her life, Kathrine had suspected that Mom had met 'Him,' complete with her mom's ''air quotes:' so start-of-the-millennium,' Kathrine thought with a laugh. She remembered her mother's worries about talking to her about then-Wade/non-Dad, three days after she and Wade/non-Dad had gone out to eat at BonNed's:
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"Kathrine, can I ask you a question?" Tara looked at her daughter across the dinner table.
"Sure, Mom: what's the sitch?" Kathrine looked up from her spaghetti.
Tara paused for a moment and realized that she was actually scared of what her daughter might say, but she realized that she'd raised her differently, so she dove into the deep end: "Kathrine, what would you say if I brought home a date who didn't look like us?"
"Please don't tell me you're dating a redhead, Mom," Kathrine laughed, and Tara laughed with her.
"Seriously, Kat: someone different, like, let's say: someone Asian, Hispanic, Indian, African-American…" Tara trailed.
"Who is it, Mom?" Kathrine put her fork down and looked at mother with a smile.
"Well," she started, and Kathrine was shocked:
'Mom's blushing! She's found someone she likes, and she really has the 'hots' for him or her, too!'
"I did meet a client today, Kat, and it turns out I knew him a long time ago."
"Someone from MHS? It's not Principal Barkin, is it: that would be sick and wrong, Mom," Kathrine laughed, and her mother stared at her for a moment and then laughed.
"No, daughter, it's not your principal," Tara visibly shuddered at the thought of bedding her former Assistant Principal. "Actually, he's younger than me."
"One of Aunt Kim's brothers?"
"NO!" Tara almost shouted: the idea of being married to a judge, even if one of them had been a 'Pep Puppy,' just didn't fit Tara's idea of 'fair and balanced justice.' 'They are kinda cute, though: cute like an exposed 500-amp wire,' Tara smiled.
"Well, who is it?"
"wade load," Tara ducked her head, pretending to take a bite and mumbling.
"Mom! You're mumbling, again."
"Wade Load," she raised her head, ready to take the rejection.
What she saw was, instead, a smile.
"Mom, you're in love, already. Was he the guy you went out with the night I had my Pixie sleepover? Did someone else have a sleepover?" Kathrine grinned.
"No, daughter," Tara grinned, "I did not have a sleepover that night. Dr. Load is a gentleman and a scholar…seriously," Tara laughed at her own 'Motor Ed' reference.
Kathrine thought for a moment, processing her mother's clues, and she hit the 'A-HA!' button:
"You're dating Dr. Wade Load, Aunt Kim's 'Q' and the co-founder of BlazeIT!? That's great for me: guaranteed built-in tutor for every science subject," Kathrine laughed.
"Mom, one question," she turned serious. "Do you love him?"
"Kat, I think he's the one…no, that's not true: I know he's the one, Kat. He makes me feel things…."
"Whoa, Mom, we're getting into the TMI area, now!"
"Not those things, Kat," Tara laughed, but she thought 'well, I had that dream last night…oh, my….' "I mean things like being treated with respect and caring and love, treated like a real woman."
"You mean, like oldDad wanted to be treated?" Kathrine grinned, and Tara blushed.
"Amp down, Mom: I knew about Dad's idea of 'playing dress-up,'" Kathrine smiled, and Tara blushed even more.
"Come on, Mom, you didn't even suspect it when he said he was shaving his legs for swimming? Dad didn't even like swimming, Mom...but, that's not important," Kathrine added, and Tara smiled: she's already picked up some 'Loaded' lines.
"So, Mom, if you love him, does he love you?"
"I'm pretty sure that the answer is a "YES!'"
"OK, Mom, so you love him, and you think he loves you. What are you waiting for?
"Mom," she said with her arms crosses over her chest, "so, he's African-American: this is the 21st century: that shouldn't matter to you: it certainly doesn't matter to me. Heck, most of my friends who have both parents have at least one of a different ethnicity: I guess I'm lucky we live here in Middleton, and the Space Center has attracted so many brilliant minds that aren't worried about the petty items like skin color.
"Love is all you need, Mom," she sang to Tara, then giggled: "See: I've even been listening to Granddad's 'oldies;' the ones that are coming back again, at least," and Kathrine kissed her mother's cheek and bounded out of the kitchen and headed up the stairs.
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She had looked everywhere for Christmas presents; she'd been looking since school started in September, but she hadn't found anything that screamed how she felt. At least, that's what she thought.
Besides, what do you give to someone who has it all: Team Possible's "Q", the co-founder of BlazeIT! Search and Rescue, and a tenured professor at Middleton Institute of Science and Technology, not to mention the minor fact that he was a multi-millionaire from his own hands, not counting the monies from the royalties from his parents' music and books?
And, that was just her Father: her Mother owned her own successful law firm, having acquired one firm this year and in the process of acquiring another as she grew, primarily because of her successes in her cases and the incorrect beliefs that the new clients had that, if she was connected to Team Possible and BlazeIT!, they'd get preferential treatment. She'd told them otherwise, but they insisted on moving their business, anyway. Mom had had concerns about it, but she and Dad talked about it, and Dad was wise beyond his years: "If they're coming to you even after you've told them you have influences in those area, take the business and prove to then that they should have joined you long ago because you're the best, not just the most beautiful, Tara." That resulted in another 'hot tub' session, and Kathrine had to close her window that night...again.
'They're incorrigible," she thought as she lowered the window, "and I hope I'm lucky enough to find someone like Daddy to marry when I'm old enough to get married!" She laughed and turned on her portable white-noise generator and tried to go to sleep, but she had her pity party first…
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"I'll never be a pretty as Mom is," she had said to Wade one day while Tara was out of town, after they had moved into the house.
"Nonsense, Kathrine: you're a beautiful young woman now, and you're only getting more beautiful as you get older," was Wade's response as he continued setting up the holoprojector in the living room.
"Thank you, Daddy," she smiled, 'but I'll never look like Jessica: she's DDG, and I'm almost a negative cup," she whined, and Wade looked up.
"Kathrine, daughter, you won't have any trouble, unless it's fighting the boys off with a whip," Wade smiled at her. "We grow at different rates, dear."
"Yeah, but why did I have to be the tortoise?"
That was at the first of October, and she was impatient.
"Don't worry, Kat," her mother had told her later that evening when she'd called home. "They'll come; besides, Jessica is a bit older than you."
"I know, but…" and Kathrine went to sleep, still fretting a bit….
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She'd talked to several of her friends about the presents that they've given their dads for Christmas, and Kathrine was shocked: most of the ones who remembered what they'd given gave ties or had their mothers buy presents for them and slap their names on them! That was sooo last century….
She felt sorry for them a little bit: they didn't know what they were missing.
"Paranoia and irrational fears about giving the right gifts," she said as she rolled over and went to sleep after that frustrating quest was over.
Her 'net friend (who, it turned out, was also her best local older friend) Jessica, had given her some good ideas, but they didn't seem to fit her parents, and especially her Dad. They'd chatted long into the night one Friday in October before Jess, quite by accident, gave her the seed that grew into Kathrine's current quest.
She's talked to Aunt Betty, Uncle Ron and Aunt Kim, Uncle Ned and Aunt BonBon (Kathrine liked calling her that especially since Bonnie Rorem blushed and giggled when Kathrine called her that the first time, by accident,: Bonnie had told her that she was the only one who could call her that), Uncle Josh and Aunt Monique, and her favorite two troublemaker uncles: Judges James and Timothy. All of them offered to assist in funding, but Kathrine declined their offers: she had enough money from her allowance and from her other 'hobbies' that even Mom and Dad didn't know about…she thought…. Besides, a Christmas present should come from her, especially this one.
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Her Mom had made her dress up to meet Dr. Load. She really didn't mind, but she had to put up a fuss: daughter privilege, you know. She sat in the living room and was into her favorite 'light reading:' David Weber's Honor Harrington series, specifically the second book in the series. She liked books –
"…strong women, like your mother?" the voice came from behind her, and she turned her head and smiled.
There, in her living room, holding the hand of her mother (like he truly meant it) was Dr. Wade Agamemnon Load, in the flesh. She closed her book after dropping in her bookmark and stood, turning to meet him.
Wade smiled as he looked at the pretty young girl standing in front of him, and he could see Tara in her. 'She's going to be a real heartbreaker when she gets older,' he thought. 'Like, in a year or two,' he grinned inside.
'She's already got the height, the legs, and the smile: she's even more confident that I remember Kim being at this age, and that was scary enough. With those legs,' he tagged this thought, 'I guess I'd better break out the throwing knives,' as he laughed in his head.
'I'm starting to sound like James Possible, and she's not even mine, yet.'
'But, you want to be her father, don't you?' that other voice in the back of his head asked, with a smirk.
"Dr. Load," she extended her hand, and he bent down and lightly brushed her hand with his lips, causing her to turn pink with her blush.
"Miss Bluem, good day: Tara," he lifted his head and smiled at Tara, "you told me you had a daughter, but I guess I should have assumed that she would be as lovely as you," he lifted his head with a smile.
"Dr. Load, just what are your intentions toward my mother?" Kathrine asked, generating a look of horror from her mother and a chuckle from Dr. Load.
"Well, Miss Bluem: short-term, I intend to take the two of you out to dinner where, I hope, we will all enjoy ourselves immensely. Long term, that depends a great deal on two lovely ladies: I'm quite fond of one, and I know I'll grow to like the other almost as much. The older of the two ladies likes me, and I'm not certain about the younger, but something tells me that I just might grow on her.
"I certainly hope so; otherwise, these roses will go to waste" and he produced, from behind his back, a bouquet of yellow roses.
Kathrine squealed as she took the bouquet, then looked at her mother and asked with her eyes. Her mother shook her head, saying 'no, I didn't tell him that yellow was your favorite.'
"Thank you, Dr. Load: yellows are my favorite roses," Kathrine's smile told Wade he'd hit the target dead-center.
"Mine too, and they were my mother's favorites, too," Wade smiled.
"You're definitely moving up the list, Dr. Load," Kathrine smiled.
"Wade, please, Miss Bluem," he requested, and she mentally checked another item off.
'One more,' she thought as she smiled, "Of course, Wade, and only if you call me Kathrine, no middle 'e', please and thank you: I'm driving," she explained, and Wade laughed.
Kathrine mentally checked another one off her list: 'his laugh is real and relaxed, not fake.'
"I like your hair," Wade smiled, and Kathrine flipped it.
"You don't think it's too long?" she asked coquettishly, and Tara laughed as Wade sputtered.
'Gotcha! Houston, we have a winner! Ching Ching Ching Ching Ching!' she rang Wade up and put the 'Sold!' sign on him for her mother to see later: as far as she was concerned, Kathrine had found her new Dad.
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Kathrine laughed as she popped out of the muni-tube. Finally, the city of Middleton had figured out that GJ had burrowed under its surface like an unregistered mole, and the city decided that they wanted some of the action. Result: the first muni-tubes in the country, and solely for the citizenry; they ran at a much slower transport speed, of course, and they had eliminated a great deal of personal surface transportation. The kids took to it like ducks to water; the older folks still weren't totally comfortable with it, though, but the use was still growing, even after 10 years of use.
She knocked on the door, and a brown-haired woman opened the restaurant door.
"Hello, BonBon," Kathrine smiled, and she got a return hug from Bonnie Rorem.
"Kat, my fav YGF: how's tricks?" Bonnie asked as she ushered Kathrine into the restaurant.
"So, you left a cryptic message, Kat: what's the sitch?"
"I've got an idea," Kathrine began, and Bonnie's smile grew as she heard more and more.
"Count Ned and me in, Kat: I can't wait to see the look on their faces," Bonnie laughed.
"I'm just trying to do something nice for them, BonBon," Kat admitted, and Bonnie hugged her.
"I know, Kat, and I think it's wonderful that you love your new Dad so much that you're willing to put this much work into his Christmas present," Bonnie squeezed her, then let her go and looked into her eyes with a grin. "Besides, between you and me, I always thought that Wade was kinda cute, in his own way, of course,' Bonnie admitted and then laughed as Kat shot her a huge raspberry.
"What could you, would you, get for a man who has everything, or can get it, himself? There's not anything he doesn't already have or can't get," Kathrine laughed as she imagined the look on his face.
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"Tara, I do believe your daughter is up to mischief," Wade grinned over his breakfast of fruit and oatmeal.
"'My' daughter?" Tara asked, and Wade nodded.
"She's stirring up something, so she's 'your' daughter. 'Our' daughter certainly wouldn't cause any trouble like this," Wade smiled as he ate.
"Oh, really? So, whose daughter was it that dumped the laundry detergent into the hot tub to clean it?" Tara asked, and Wade pointed at Tara and frowned.
"And, whose daughter cleaned it up?" and Wade pointed at both of them and smiled.
"Daughter gets in trouble in school?" Wade points at Tara.
"Daughter gets accolades at school?" Wade points at both of them.
"I see," Tara stood, walked over to Wade, and sat in his lap.
"So, what is 'our' daughter up to, oh husband-of-mine?" She nibbled behind his ear, and Wade smiled and reached around her waist.
"Not certain, oh-luscious-wife, but it's a 'big,'" Wade replied as he stroked her back.
"Get a room, you two," Kathrine came down the stairs and into the kitchen, carrying her PosComm for schoolwork.
"What's for breakfast?" she asked, and her mother looked at the cabinets and smiled.
"Oh, man, not 'hunter-gatherer,' again," Kathrine mumbled as she pulled the granola boxes out of the cabinet with a grin.
"Oh, yeah, she's really upset about it," Tara commented as Kathrine juggled the three cereal boxes and placed the one she wanted on the cabinet and the others back onto the shelves.
"Talk about juggling your meal choices," Wade laughed as Kat blew him a kiss and then a gigantic raspberry.
"I love you too, Daddy," she smiled as she poured the milk she'd lifted from the 'fridge.
"I'm having chocolate for breakfast, daughter," Tara grinned as she nibbled on Wade's ear. "You get granola," Tara giggled as Wade squeezed her and then snuggled into her neck, nibbling on his own vanilla breakfast.
"Room, comma, get one, period," Kathrine shook her head as she began to eat.
"At least she's not juggling the liquids, 'T,'" Wade laughed as Tara cringed, then smiled as she started neck-nibbling of her own. She liked chocolate for breakfast, and Kathrine moaned, once again.
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"…and, you can have them both in. at the same time?" Kathrine was on the phone.
silence
"Great! Thank you, Midas, I really appreciate this."
Silence
"Oh, yes, it is a big, sir! I can't believe you knew my Dad, and I can't believe he doesn't know you're in town!"
Silence
"Why? Because, he'd already have made an appointment for my Mom, that's why," she laughed.
Silence
"Thank you, again, and you can use the account I gave you to cover the bill."
Silence
"Thanks, again, and maybe I'll come in…Aunt Shego recommends you highly! Bye, now," she clicked off and smiled.
"One more thing, and we're all set: this one should be the most fun…" and she called the Former Director of Global Justice, now the chief advisor to the Director of Global Justice (she wanted to take it easy): Elizabeth "Betty" Director-Adams, a.k.a. "Aunt Betty."
"Aunt Betty? This is Kathrine."
Silence
"Yes, I know, I owe you a visit, but I'll give you a chance to raise the bill."
Silence
"Aunt Kim already called?"
Silence, and a smile filled Kathrine's face.
"And, you're in?"
Silence, then
"Greaters, Aunt Betty, that's wonderful! I saved the best for last, and you've already agreed? ThankYouThankYouThankYouThankYou! You're Platinum!"
Silence
"Yeah, I know, I owe both you and Uncle CP a visit; I'll come up to Montana in the spring, and we can all go fishing: how does that sound?"
Silence, then a grimace crossed Kathrine's face.
"Ice Fishing? But I'm delicate," Kathrine whined, and Betty's laugh came across the phone.
"All right, I'll go ice fishing with both of you. Darn it, where is the global warming when you need it?"
Silence
"Yes, I know, that's why you can go ice fishing in November; no lectures, please, and thank you, Aunt Betty," Kathrine laughed, and she smiled.
"One question: is Jordon going to be there?" Kathrine asked with a grin on her face.
Silence
"Greaters! Aunt Joss' oldest son is a riot," 'and kinda cute, too,' Kathrine thought.
Silence
"I love you, too; bye-bye," and Kathrine cut the circuit and dialed Jessica.
"Jess? Kat. I got the last piece, so you owe me the grapes, GF," Kathrine laughed.
Silence, and a howl could be heard over the phone.
"Yes, you didn't think I could pull it off, did you, and you didn't buy them, so, now, you're gonna have to shop for my favorite food all weekend?" Kathrine laughed.
"Too bad, so sad….for you," she laughed as Jessica moaned over the phone.
"Remember, it's got to be by Friday," Kathrine laughed and cut the circuit mid-moan.
Kathrine looked down at her PosComm and smiled:
"Great Rufus!" she quietly shouted. "I think I'm a'gonna pull this off."
Author's afterward:
Just what does Kathrine have planned for her parents?
Considering who she's been talking to, this should worry her parents…seriously
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Mon-speak translations:
MHS – Middleton High School
TMI – too much information!
DDG – drop-dead gorgeous
GJ – Global Justice
YGF – young girl-friend
GF – girl friend
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