A/N: Ha! I got my documents thingy to work again! Yay! That means I can get things out faster again! Woohoo! Be prepared for the unleashing of the many results from the ebil plot bunnies! Off to the R.Z.! (reading zone) Mwahahahahahaha!
And prewarned, when I mean multiple couples, I mean any couple is fair game, depending on who needs to be victimized, (ahem!) I mean chosen as favorite pairings.
Err, and enjoy, hehe.
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Ron stared at the back of his wife in silent reverence. He never dreamed he would get a chance to hold her in his arms and claim her as his own. A part of him had always feared she would leave him as soon as she got the chance. But here they were, now in their forties, and she'd remained faithfully by his side. It was almost too much to take in.
Obviously there was still a chance she'd tire of him. He knew that. But she'd never shown any motive to do so. It made his eyes sting a bit.
He slowly crossed the room and enveloped her in a hug, his lips gently touching her red hair with a kiss.
"What are you looking at?" he murmured, following her gaze outside the window. He could see her smile in the reflection of the window.
"How precious they are," she answered, eyes following the two young teens romping around in the back yard. The two teens were practicing the new moves their parents had shown them.
Ron smiled at his two children, his chest swelling with pride. They were perfect. The older of the two, a strawberry blond, was carefully teaching his younger sister how to properly block the new move. The brilliantly colored red head was smiling up at her brother eagerly, hazel eyes eagerly taking in his movements.
They were amazing children. Both of them could almost take up his and his wife's role saving the day. The only reason they hadn't already was because he and his wife had done quite an acceptable job of it all on their own.
Ron buried his face into his wife's hair, closing his eyes to take in her scent.
"Is something the matter?" she asked, her voice tinged with worry. He smiled slightly.
"No," he murmured, not moving. He finally sighed. "Okay, maybe."
She squirmed in his arms, trying to turn around and look at him. He tightened his hold to keep her still.
"Ron?" she asked. He leaned down and kissed her neck before returning his gaze out the window.
"I was just thinking."
"Of?" she persisted.
He smiled slightly.
It had taken him years to grow up. He hadn't dared to ask Kim to marry him until he cleaned up his act. He wanted to make a proper husband for her.
In all honesty, it had been Bonnie's fault. The brown haired cheerleader had cornered him one day alone. She had sneered at him and asked what he could possibly offer Kim, seeing as he hadn't even managed to grow up yet.
It had struck a cord with him. He was still in high school at the time, so he easily threw everything to the wind. He was careless and childish to the max, fully enjoying his last few years before he had to shape up. He still trained on his own. He still made sure to slowly perfect his martial arts skills until he thought he could adequately give Kim help if she needed it. After his talk with Bonnie, it dawned on him that he could lose Kim.
He didn't want that. He had to make sure he was something she could be proud of, someone that she could count on. Slowly but surely, he became a true sidekick, not just a buffoon, as Shego so deemed him. Actually, even Shego had noticed a difference in his skills as time went on. She slowly started calling him Stoppable instead of buffoon. It had made his self confidence swell.
If Shego took notice, others would as well.
So Ron kept up the training, making sure to slowly transform himself. He wanted to be able to keep Kim safe, after all. He couldn't bear thinking of what would happen if he failed to protect her. And, sure enough, Ron became popular. It took many years, but Ron slowly made a name for himself. Instead of people just calling on Kim, or only referring to the duo under her name, they started taking notice of Ron and giving him nearly equal respect.
Ron sighed, sending a few stray hairs into Kim's eyes. She dared not move though. She had a feeling it would disturb this moment.
"What if it had gone differently?" Ron asked softly. Kim blinked a few times.
"Gone differently?" she asked, brows drawn together in confusion.
"Yeah… What if this… never happened?"
Kim slowly looked outside again, taking in her children playing in their front yard. She frowned. What if it never happened? Why would he even be thinking like that?
"Ron…"
"Please, hear me out," he said pleadingly. He kissed her earlobe. "I just… Think about it. What if this never happened? What if we never got together? Where would we be?"
Kim's brow scrunched up.
"But we are together. This did happen. Did you not want it to?" she asked, worry obvious in her voice.
"No! I'm not saying that! I'm happy with our life! I love our children, and I love you! I wouldn't change it for the world!" he hastily explained. "I just… wonder…"
"But why? Why would you bring this up now?"
"The portal."
Kim's jaw clenched for a moment. The portal... They'd seen a lot of things in that portal. It was a rift between their timeline and all the varying timelines from everyone's different choices.
They'd only seen a few flashes of things, but in several, Ron and her had never gotten together. If anything, she was often paired with completely different people. She bit her lip. One of the more common pairings was her and Shego, which made no sense to her. What did her and Shego have in common?
Kim shook her head. She didn't like where that train of thought was headed at all.
"Ron, you know I'd never leave you."
He smiled, gently squeezing her to show he understood.
"I know. I just wondered. What if I hadn't been the one? What if we really did fall in love with other people?" He smirked playfully. "Especially if you had fallen for Shego."
Kim blushed madly, huffing at his reflection.
"No way. Not a chance. I would NEVER be caught dead with… with…"
He chuckled softly.
"I'm just saying… Cause obviously, somewhere else, another time, another place, you did choose her."
She whirled around to look at him in horror.
"Please do not say that ever again!"
He laughed, pulling her close.
"You know I'm teasing."
She scowled, poking his shoulder.
"At least I wasn't with Bonnie."
Ron's face momentarily screwed up in disgust before giving way to a childish grin again.
"Ah, but you did, remember? That one time when…"
"If you finish that sentence," Kim said warningly. "I'll tell Nathan to eject you out of your car again."
Ron laughed.
"See? I wasn't the only one."
Kim scowled.
"I would rather not remember that little scene. It was sick and wrong."
Ron chuckled, nuzzling her cheek.
"Yeah, but at least you weren't paired up with her as often as I was." He snorted softly. "Cause that is really sick and wrong. The girl hates my guts, and I'm pretty sure I return the favor."
Kim smirked.
"Even now? I thought we'd grown up since high school."
Ron leaned back and rolled his eyes.
"As if. She's even worse now with that whole mayor thing going on."
Kim chuckled, pulling Ron close again.
"Guess it just goes to show how different things could have been."
"Exactly," he mumbled into her hair. "Just left to wonder at all those possibilities, ya' know?"
"But there's no need to worry. We've already made our choice, right?"
A smile broke across his face again.
"Yeah. We made our choice." He bent down and captured her lips in his.
------ Same time, different timeline ------
"AAAHHHHHH!" Shego bolted up in bed, eyes wide and her breathing hard. She whirled around and grabbed the person sleeping next to her, shaking them awake roughly. "If you ever do that to me, I'll kill you!" she bellowed.
The sleeping figure stirred, blinking in half awake confusion.
"Huh? Wha'?" slurred the figure. Shego shook the figure again.
"If you EVER do that to me, I'll make sure no one will be able to find the pieces! Got it?!"
"What are y' talkin' 'bout love?" The person didn't realize they'd let slip the L word, unknowingly making Shego blush.
Shego scowled and pushed the person back onto the bed in irritation.
"Forget it," she growled, crossing her arms over her knees and glaring at the far wall.
She shuddered slightly. She hoped she forgot that dream as fast as possible. She didn't need that kind of horror in her life.
A pair of arms wrapped themselves around her shoulders. She wanted to pull away moodily, but the warmth they offered was too comforting to resist.
"What's wrong?" murmured the figure, slightly more awake then they'd been moments before.
Shego grunted in answer. The figure sighed, moving to rest their head on Shego's shoulder.
"You woke me up you know, and I was having a perfectly good nap after that heist a few hours ago. You owe me an explanation."
Shego huffed. Leave it for her to rub off on someone. Didn't help that she did feel a little guilty for her outburst. She just didn't want to explain.
"Just go back to sleep."
"No."
Shego snorted in irritation. The person didn't know how to give up.
She rolled her eyes. It was also one of the things she found so endearing about them as well.
"Just had a bad dream. Go back to sleep."
"What kind of bad dream?" persisted the person, ignoring the growl she got in answer. "Seriously," continued the woman. "You woke up in a panic. What was so horrible?"
Shego scowled, trying to remove herself from the woman's grasp. That only earned her a pinch in the side that made her yelp.
"Damn it! I don't want to talk about it!" yelled Shego.
"Well, you're stuck talking about it after nearly rattling my brains out."
Shego snarled and yanked herself out of the restraining arms to whirl around and glare at the woman behind her. The redhead looked up at her expectantly, not an ounce of fear in her green eyes.
"You!" growled Shego, unable to come up with anything else to say.
"Me what?" asked the redhead. "You owe me an explanation."
"It's you!" answered Shego, throwing the redhead down on the bed angrily. She hovered over the younger woman, eyes alight with frustration. "It's your fault."
The redhead's face scrunched up in complete confusion and slight irritation of her own.
"What the hell do you mean me?! What on earth did I do?"
Shego tried to stare the woman down, but she didn't have any luck. She sighed heavily, throwing herself off her captive to stand up.
"Where are you going now?!" demanded the redhead.
Shego didn't answer. She wandered out of the bedroom and into the kitchen. She went to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of red wine. She moodily crossed the kitchen and sat down on a stool at the granite counter. She pulled down a wineglass hanging upside down on the rack on the overhang above the counter. She poured herself a full glass and gulped it all down without pause. She poured herself a second glass and pushed the bottle off to the side, sipping at the red liquid in her glass.
The redhead finally wandered into the kitchen. She was dressed in a baggy set of blue silk pajamas. She drug her bare feet across the cold tile floor of the kitchen to stand on the opposite side of the counter. She scowled at the raven haired woman.
"What's your deal?" asked Kim, her green eyes alight. "First you wake me up like we're being raided, and then you yell at me like it's my fault, and now you're not telling me anything?" The redhead huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "Spill."
Shego glared at her, but it was only half hearted. Now she just felt exhausted. She rested her forehead in her palm, letting out a heavy sigh. That was an image she didn't need in her head… her Kimmie in the buffoon's arms. She shuddered, taking a large gulp of wine.
Kim noticed the tremor that ran through Shego's body. It made her frown, her anger easily placed on the backburner.
"Shego," she said softly. "What's going on? What kind of dream would upset you this much? Am I…" Kim hesitated, opting to look away from the raven haired woman. "Am I really at fault?"
Shego's head snapped up at Kim's hurt voice. Taking the shortest route to the redhead, namely over the counter top, Shego wrapped her arms around the redhead. She held Kim close, nestling her face in Kim's bedraggled hair.
"No. You're not at fault."
Kim burrowed her face into Shego's neck.
"Then what's the matter?"
Shego sighed, gently stroking Kim's hair.
"Do you remember that weird device Dr. D built?"
Kim snorted.
"You have to be more specific. Dr. D's built a lot of weird devices."
Shego momentarily smiled. It didn't last long, however.
"It was the one he claimed could see into other realities."
Kim chuckled.
"Oh! That one! He looked into it and saw himself dressed as a flower!" Kim giggled. "That was amusing. What about it?"
"I saw something as well."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
"…" Kim turned so she could look up at Shego. "And?"
"And?"
Kim huffed and pinched Shego in the side again. Shego yelped and jumped.
"Will you knock it off?!"
"Then just answer me!"
Shego growled.
"Fine. I saw a different reality. In that one, you and…" Shego's lip curled back in disgust. Kim waited patiently as Shego finished grinding her teeth. "You and… the…" Shego scowled again, visibly paling. "You and the buffoon were together… kissing… having kids…" Shego looked away. "You were… married."
Kim blinked, blinked again… and burst out laughing.
"Me and BLOND BOY?!" Kim slapped Shego's shoulder. "You're joking!"
"I'm serious," said Shego with a frown. "You were married. You had kids. The buffoon even mentioned getting a glimpse of other realities himself. He brought up you and me, and you were horrified by the idea."
Kim's laughter quickly died out. She took Shego's face into her hands.
"I am not in love with Ron Stoppable. I am in love with you."
"Are you?" Shego asked softly. Kim frowned.
"Shego," she said, keeping Shego's eyes locked with her own. "Stoppable means nothing to me. He never will. You, now, and even a hundred years from now, are my one and only."
"But-"
"But nothing!" Kim said, cutting her off. "I do not love anyone else, nor will I ever love anyone else. What you saw was some other reality entirely. This is ours. I belong to you alone, and no one will take me from you. Understand?"
Shego looked deep into Kim's eyes. She honestly hated feeling this insecure, but she had seen a possibility in that reality that could leak into this reality, and it had frightened her. She never wanted to lose Kim. It had taken her years to get Kim into her life, and she didn't want to lose that. She didn't want to lose this.
Shego pressed her forehead against Kim's, their breath mingling.
"Promise?" whispered Shego. Kim smiled gently, one hand caressing Shego's cheek.
"Promise."
------Again, same time, different timeline------
"POSSIBLE!!!!" stormed a certain brown haired young woman.
Named redhead popped her head up from beneath a pile of books. Sensing the impending danger, Kim sprung up and made a mad dash for the window.
BAM!
The door behind her slammed open, making Kim involuntarily jump.
"YOU! STOP RIGHT THERE!" roared Bonnie, face scrunched up in anger. Kim flinched, immediately halting her actions in opening the window.
"Err, hi Bon Bon."
"Don't HI me Possible!"
Kim flinched.
"Um… is err, something the matter?" she asked, desperately hoping that maybe, maybe, just this once, it wasn't her fault.
"HELL YES!" bellowed Bonnie. "Care to explain what the HELL you were thinking?!"
Kim blanked out completely. What she was thinking? When? For what? What had she been thinking that had been so obviously wrong?
"Uh…" was Kim's brilliant response.
"With Shego! With RON, heaven forbid!"
Kim gave Bonnie an utterly blank look.
"Shego and Ron? Err, what exactly… do they have to do with this? And what is it that I was thinking?"
"Don't play dumb with me Possible! I saw everything!"
"Saw… everything?" Kim blinked in confusion, head cocked to the side. "What did you see?"
"I saw YOU, RON, and SHEGO!" hissed Bonnie, stalking forward and backing Kim up against the half open window. Kim, completely cornered, had no idea what she'd done to earn such ire. After all, she'd only been minding her own business in the library. What on earth could she have done to piss off the brown haired woman now?
"Saw us when?" asked Kim.
"An hour ago! At GJ!"
Kim's brows drew together.
"All of us at GJ? We've never all been at GJ. I don't even think Shego and Ron know where it's at."
Bonnie growled, leaning in so her and Kim were only inches apart.
"Quit playing stupid, Possible. You're really starting to piss me off. What the HELL were you thinking?!"
"About what?!" exclaimed a perplexed Kim. "I don't have any idea what you're talking about woman! If you tell me why the hell you're screaming at me, we might actually get some where!"
"You and Stoppable were married! You were making out with that freak Shego! WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?!"
Kim balked.
Her and… who?! Doing what?! Were what?! What whaaaat?!
"Answer me Possible!" roared Bonnie, grabbing Kim and pushing her hard into the window.
"What the… HELL?!" exploded Kim. "I was doing WHAT?! With WHO?! Where the hell did you see that?!" Kim's eyes were alight, face red with anger. "You tell me who the hell showed you that because they're messing with the wrong person! Bastards stealing my face for stupid delinquent, irritating little pranks!"
Bonnie hesitated, slightly put off that her anger was starting to look misplaced.
"I snuck into the restricted section. They had all these old gadgets they confiscated from all the villains. I turned one on for fun, seeing as it looked like just an ordinary computer." Bonnie scowled. "You popped up with Ron. You were married and your kids were playing in the front yard. After that brief stint, it switched around, and you were with Shego," Bonnie ground her teeth. "In-her-bed."
Kim paled considerably. She looked like she was ill.
"I… was… what?" wheezed Kim, eyes wide as saucers.
"I already told you," retorted Bonnie, her scowl still in place. "I just want to know what the hell you were thinking."
Kim's eyes darted to Bonnie's, mouth dropping open in horror.
"I wasn't thinking anything! I didn't do ANY of that! I'm freakin' innocent! I would never get married to Ron! And Shego?! SHEGO?! Oh HELL no!" Kim shook her head harshly from side to side. "Do you have any idea how much of a masochist Shego is?! Are you MAD?! There is no way in HELL I would be with that woman! She creeps me the hell out!"
Bonnie didn't relent her glare, her grip still tight on Kim's biceps.
"Then what the hell was that?" she demanded. "I mean, that was… was just what everyone expected of you…" Bonnie finished softly. She suddenly wasn't so angry anymore. She pulled away from Kim and slowly made her way out of the library, looking dazed and confused.
Kim frowned.
Well… none of their fights had ever gone like THAT before. And this time… she wasn't guilty! Oh, that was some sweet news! She wasn't guilty!
She almost did a victory dance, except her mind rudely reminded her that every other time Bonnie had confronted her, she'd been caught pretty much red handed. Kim pouted at the thought, moodily shuffling her feet.
The sound of a door opening and closing down the hall caught her attention, and she remembered Bonnie's odd little comment at the end of her rant. Filled with slightly worry, Kim quickly exited the library and looked around the empty hall.
Bonnie was no where in sight.
"Bonnie?" called Kim, hoping the brown haired girl wouldn't snap at her again for yelling in the mansion. She didn't get an answer. This worried her more, and she jogged down the hall to the stairs that lead to the first floor. "Bonnie?"
She just caught sight of the brown haired girl making her way out to the garden. Knowing Bonnie would easily lose her if she entered the maze, Kim climbed over the railing and dropped to the first floor. She rolled to her feet and took off running towards the garden door without pause.
She flung the door open in time to see Bonnie nearly at the maze. Kim made a mad dash across the lawn and towards the brown haired girl. Sadly, she didn't make it in time. By the time she stood in the maze's archway entrance, Bonnie had already disappeared.
Kim groaned.
"Dang it Bon Bon! You did that on purpose!" Kim huffed to herself for a second before starting off in a random direction.
(hours later)
Kim collapsed onto a bench, completely worn out. She'd spent the entire afternoon searching for Bonnie, and had come up entirely empty handed. The sun was just starting to set, and Kim was beginning to get panicky. She knew Bonnie knew her way around the maze well enough to get out fine on her own, but it was getting late, and Kim didn't like the thought of Bonnie being out here alone.
Bonnie was many things, but Bonnie was no fighter. Well, not physically a fighter. Verbally, Bonnie was very, VERY seldom matched. Which was proven time and time again at court. Let's just say Bonnie's winning streak had yet to be broken at court.
Physically, however, Bonnie was only good at running. Bonnie could run like the wind, but she couldn't hit hard enough to knock someone off their feet or break a bone. Hence, Kim really didn't want Bonnie to encounter anything she couldn't handle, even if those chances were slim because they were in the mansion's garden, and only a select few could get past security to enter.
Kim blinked, the soft sound of sobbing reaching her ears on a breeze. Kim bolted into a sitting position, her ears straining to catch another snippet of sound on the wind.
There it was again!
Elated, Kim quickly pinpointed the direction and squared her shoulders. Fully irritated by her inability to navigate the damnable place, Kim decided to take the quickest route she could think of. Straight as the crow flies.
Bonnie jumped when Kim came bursting out of the maze's bush wall.
"K-Kim?" she asked, completely caught off guard by the redhead's sudden appearance. Kim sighed in relief upon seeing Bonnie perched on a stone bench. She closed the distance between them and quickly checked Bonnie over in case she had managed to get hurt somehow. Kim straightened when she found no harm done.
"Bon Bon, why on earth did you take off like that? I've been worried sick."
Bonnie looked away, her eyes red and puffy from crying.
"If this is about earlier, I'm sorry," blurted Bonnie. "Forget I ever said anything."
Kim was rendered speechless. Bonnie was apologizing?! To HER?! Kim pinched herself just to make sure she was awake.
"Bon Bon, what happened? Why did you take off like that?" Kim sighed when Bonnie didn't answer. It wasn't like Bonnie at all. That meant things were serious. Kim edged closer, half panicked the woman would take off again. Kim knew that she'd never find her again if Bonnie took off a second time, especially at night. "By the way, everyone can kiss my ass."
That got Bonnie's attention. The brown haired woman's head whipped around, eyes locking onto Kim.
"What on earth are you talking about?"
Kim shrugged, stuffing her hands in her pockets.
"The everyone you spoke of. Screw 'em. I'm not out to please them. I'm not out to prove them right or wrong. I'm out for myself. And, I'm out for you."
Bonnie stared at her in silence, not exactly sure how to respond to that.
"But, you-"
"But nothing," interrupted Kim. "They can wish all they want. The only thing I'll do for any of them is to make sure they don't manage to blow themselves up or end up getting their butts enslaved. For you, on the other hand… I will do what ever it takes to prove it to you that I am what I say I am and I mean what I say."
Bonnie swallowed, eyes stinging with tears.
"And what I saw?" she asked with a hoarse voice. Her hands trembled in her lap. She couldn't still them.
"What you saw, whatever it was, wasn't real."
"But it was!" cried Bonnie, tears starting to fall again. "It was too real to be fake! There was no way that didn't happen! I know it was you! I KNOW!"
Kim sighed, carefully taking a seat next to Bonnie on the cold bench.
"That wasn't me."
"Yes it-!"
Kim silenced her by placing a finger over her lips.
"It wasn't me. Maybe it was some other Kim somewhere else, one that doesn't exist here, but it wasn't me. This me, the me you know, would never, NEVER do anything like that." Kim searched Bonnie's eyes. "Or, can't you tell your own Kimmie from someone else's?" teased Kim, hand moving to gently take hold of Bonnie's.
Bonnie sniffled, looking down at their entwined hands.
"But Shego and Ron?" mumbled Bonnie, a stubborn set to her jaw. Kim smiled endearingly.
"The Ron and Shego I know would both kick my butt up and down the continent if I EVER tried to come on to either one of them. There's no way they'd ever think of dating lil ol' me." Kim gently cupped Bonnie's cheek in her other hand. "Now, do you believe me yet? Or are you going to make me starve to death?" To prove her point, Kim's stomach chose that moment to growl loudly.
Bonnie's face split into a smile.
"Guess we better get back and get you fed. After all, who knows what you'll try to eat if left to your own devices!" Bonnie stood up, Kim following. Just as Bonnie tried to walk away, Kim pulled back on her hand and kept her where they were. She looked back at Kim in confusion.
"Are we good?" asked Kim, her green eyes nearly pleading with Bonnie to say yes. Bonnie let a warm smile grace her lips, darting forward to place a quick peck on Kim's lips before retreating to arms length again.
"Positively perfect K."