"Arrogance"
By Eoraptor
AN:Rated T for teen and general audiences. Kim Possible and Related Characters © 2002-2007 the Walt Disney Company. I do not own these characters and this work is not for profit and intended only for fair use and enjoyment.
"Uuuuugh!" the nineteen year old heroine nearly screamed, "What am I going to do with him?!"
Anne looked over curiously as she came into the kitchen after eleven PM, apparently from a late shift, "Since you're speaking in the singular, I'm going to assume you mean Ron and not your brothers?"
Kim rolled her eyes so hard, her mother thought she might have strained them. She sighed and shook her head at the display of supreme exasperation. "Okay, so what did he do that has you so… 'tweaked'?"
The heroine didn't like it when her parents tried to be cool. Shivering at the attempt, she sighed and tried to get ahold of herself and not take out her Ron issues on her mom.
After taking a few more deep breaths, she pawed a hand roughly through her hair. "So he took me to the movies tonight."
"Bricks of Fury: the Sevening? It's all he's been talking about all summer." Anne supplied, tilting her head.
"Ugh, as if… he's seen it three times already, even Rufus balked at four in a week." Kim scowled as though she'd got a bad grape in her mouth. "I made him take me to 'Turn the Page'."
"Ah, Memo Pad Two… not exactly a Ron movie is it?" the neurosurgeon surmised.
"Apparently not," the high school graduate scowled, "In the first five minutes he'd asked me about why the 'police blotter' was being burned. And who the blonde lady in the blurry picture was. And why Billy was crying. And-,"
"And you could barely hear the dialogue because of all his questions," Anne cut her rant off.
"Me and everyone in the three rows around us," Kim snorted. "A Police Blotter? He didn't even know it was the Memo Pad mom, the whole name of the first movie, and the book, and the screen play, and the Broadway show…"
Anne nodded sympathetically. That was a bit dense, even for a teenage boy; even Doctor Amy g'Dala's son knew the name from pop culture references, and he was five years younger than her daughter's boyfriend.
"So, it's a 93 minute movie right?" the younger redhead sighed heavily, shaking her head, "I think about 45 minutes in he finally settled down. At least, he stopped asking questions. Maybe it was the popcorn hitting him in the back of his head… maybe Rufus was whispering answers to him, I dunno."
The Doctor Possible watched her daughter stew for a few minutes. She knew that Kim would come to the meat of it soon enough; so far this was normal Ron Stoppable, not something to make her daughter yank her hair out.
Finally, Kim seemed to have formed words around whatever was sticking in her gut about the evening. "So… by the end of the movie, I'm calm again. Ron has sat; he seems to have actually watched the movie with me, didn't pester me to go get him more nachos, or go to the bathroom three times, or anything right? For Ron this is real progress."
"Turns out the reason he didn't ask for nachos or soda was because he was 'pacing himself.'" She sneered at the words even as she spoke them, "While I was getting my Senior Mints at the concession stand, he snuck back to the ticket window and got tickets to the midnight showing of The Sevening anyways. He says that now that he sat through 'my' movie, we can go see a good one. My Movie?! Like it's a chore to do something I want to do?!"
Anne saw that her daughter was once again rising up to a point of fury and shook her head, "Bubble butt, sit down. I think it's time for the talk."
Kim looked at her mother dubiously, "You gave me that when I was twelve. And Daddy gave it to me again when I was sixteen."
"No dear," The elder Possible woman shook her head, "I know you are probably about as well versed in safe sex and reproduction as anyone your age can hope to be. No Kim, I'm talking about the talk about what it means to be an arrogant, incredible Possible woman."
"I am not Arrogant." The younger bristled at the label instantly.
"Yes you are, sweetie," Anne reached over, rubbing her daughter's shoulder, "In the best ways."
Taking a deep breath, the doctor shook her head with a bittersweet gesture, "Being arrogant, headstrong, cocksure, infallible before God and Man alike, is what makes you the hero you are. Just like it makes me the very best brain surgeon in the mountain-west region, and just like it makes your father the best rocket scientist in North America. It takes having a huge ego to be able to tackle doing incredible, risky, valuable things."
She smiled again, tiredly, and moved to sit on the new family couch, drawing Kim down with her, "A great surgeon has to believe that they can fix what God broke. A great physicist has to believe that they can read the secret language of the universe and divine its meaning. A great heroine has to be unshakably sure of what she is doing."
"It gives us incredible people the power to tackle the undoable things." Anne nodded, "But… it comes with a dark side. When we're wrong… We can't always see it. And worse, when we know something isn't working, we have trouble letting go of it and moving in a new direction. I could tell you a few stories about my first tour in the surgical ward that would turn your hair as light as Ron's, all about burdening patients because I couldn't accept what I couldn't fix. Just like I'm sure you could tell me things about mistakes you've made."
In spite of herself, Kim's mind instantly flashed on Bueno Nacho Headquarters two years before. At the time she had thought ending Shego was the right thing to do. The moment she'd done it, however, she'd known she was wrong. Fortunately Shego turned out to be made of stronger stuff than the substance of Kim's mistakes.
She nodded wearily at her mother's statement and listened further.
"And right now, Bubblebutt, you and Ron are not working or moving forward. You've been together for two years now." Anne looked her daughter in the eyes, "But, and please, correct me if I'm wrong… have you two even slept together?"
"Mom!" Kim blanched at the question and its implications.
"Kimmie, you're almost twenty years old, and not raised by fundamentalists. At this point, it's a valid question of personal development, and of motherly concern." She continued giving her child a level look.
With a sigh equal parts embarrassment and bitterness, Kim shook her head, "N- no, we haven't."
"Second base even?"
The younger redhead looked down and sighed again, "No… Not for lack of me giving him opportunities."
"Kim," She nodded, smiling bitterly, "I know it's not a mother's place to cast aspersions on her daughter's lovers, but… You and Ron are good together, just… not in that way. It's time to let it go and stop being arrogant about it. You tried. You've tried harder than people twice your age and you should be commended for having the integrity to stay with it. But I don't want to see you tear yourself down, or tear Ron down, trying to make something work that just won't."
"But…" the heroine floundered, trying to counter the assessment of her chances with her boyfriend.
"Kim, let me ask you this…" Anne shook her head, "If Ronald walked in here right now and handed you a condom, would you take him upstairs? I mean, assuming I wasn't here of course."
The pause was enough for Doctor Possible to understand her point had been taken.
"But… if not Ron, then… then who?"
"If I knew that, sweetie, I'd already have brought them around the house." Anne gave a conspiratorial smile, "I'm not getting any younger, and I'd like to have grandchildren before I end up in Florida with Nana."
"Mom!" Kim ducked her head in flustered embarrassment.
"Seriously, Bubblebutt," she smiled, squeezing Kim's shoulder, "Women like us? We have to kiss more than our fair share of frogs to find our Prince."
After a long moment assessing her daughter, and the fact that it was 2008 and not 1983 when she had done her amphibian testing, she ventured a thought, "Or our Princess?"
Kim rapidly shook her head, scowling, "One personal revelation per night is my limit Mom…"
"Fair enough Kimmie…" Anne smiled, "Just… just don't be afraid of what Ron will think. I bet he's ready for a break from the duties of boyfriend to a world heroine as much as you are ready for a break from trying to puppy train a housecat. Just be honest, and try not to lose your temper over things neither of you can control."
"How-," Kim looked up after a moment trying to digest her mother's advice, "How did you end up with Daddy?"
Anne smiled more openly at the memories, "I got tired of dating men who could bench press me, but not spell Amygdala. I like being wolf-whistled at, but being appreciated for what fills my bathing cap is a lot more personally fulfilling than being appreciated for what fills my bathing suit."
"Mom? You were into…"
"Shallow men?" She grinned a bit conspiratorially, "I was… Kind of liked not having to constantly think at SAT levels while I was in medical school. I just decided that it wasn't what I wanted for the rest of my life. For you, Kimmie? You need to start figuring out what it is you want in a partner. And I mean a romantic one. Ron is great as your partner other ways, but…"
"But obviously since I left him at the movie theater with a bucket of popcorn with extra butter on upside down on his head," Kim sighed morosely, "He's just not great as my romantic partner."
"And you're just arrogant enough to admit that," Anne smiled.
AN: This is a bit which randomly came to me about a week ago. I still think it's a bit rough, but it gets across the main ideas I wanted to.