Training Table Blues
Disclaimer/Author's Notes: Kim Possible and all the characters of the show are owned by the Disney Company. 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.
We're back! You can read this without reading the background material, but I would highly recommend (shameless plug) Black Hole Deep, version 2.0 and Blue Eyes, Shining. You'll enjoy this one even more, and this story will make more sense in context.
To everyone who has read thus far and continues to read and review: thank you: your reviews have fueled me for continuing,
It's the first chapter in arc 2 of the Blue Eyes, Shining series. Wade is back home after a summer in Montana. He has a girlfriend and new friends and a new outlook at life, but he doesn't have agoraphobia….
I'd advise a fresh container of ice cream (strawberry or chocolate, of course!) and a big spoon (maybe even two spoons, so you have redundancy). Sit back, relax, and get ready for this fresh, new ride.
Enjoy! Please read and review.
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Chapter 1: Bedroom Redeaux Blues
(From the archives and logs of Dr. Wade Load.)
- - - - - - -
"Dad!" I shouted as he came out of the door to greet me.
I did something I'd never done since I was three years old: I ran to him and hugged him in public.
Unfortunately for me, Dad knew me far too well: He's already figured out more about Jocelyn than I wanted him to know that soon.
I should have known: he was my Dad, and he was smarter than me.
I was more frightened of what Mom would think….
- - - - - - -
"Rebecca Jane's a fox, son, and don't tell me you haven't been looking," Dad commented on the way into the house.
"DAD!" This must be a synthodrone….
"Relax, son, I'm married, not dead," he replied as Mom came to the door.
"WADE!" She called, and she pulled open the door, and I ran to her and hugged her.
Mom looked at Dad, and he answered her perplexed and questioning look with two words:
"A girl," was Dad's reply to her unspoken question.
"Not Kimberly Anne! Wade, you know she's way too old for you," Mom added as she pulled me back and kissed my forehead. She looked me over with a mother's eye.
"Obviously, you had a good trip," she smiled.
She Knew.
All mothers know.
It's in the genes, somehow…I haven't found it, yet, but I'm sure it's there….
"It's another 'Possible' woman, dear," Dad continued, "Slim's daughter, Jocelyn."
'Dad, you're killing me.'
"Oh, Jocelyn?" Mom smiled. "Son, I should have known: you've had a thing for redheads since long before Kim," and she grinned, and I heard laughter from behind us.
'Oh, NO! They were still here! They came back from the car! I wanted to crawl into a hole and die!'
"Please forgive my son's manners; we raised him better than that. I'm Wade's mom, Rachel," she waved from the door, and my worst nightmare was about to come true…
"Would you like to come in for some coffee?" Mom asked.
"Thank you, ma'am, we'd love to," Rebecca Jane replied. "Don't worry about Dr. Load; he's been a perfect gentleman all of the time I've seen him," and she grinned, "But, of course, I wasn't with him all of the time."
'Rebecca Jane, you're dead….'
"He's Wade, here: the house is filled with doctors," Mom responded, and Rebecca Jane looked shocked.
"I didn't know! I apologize, Doctors Load," Rebecca Jane sputtered, but Mom waved it away.
"'Titles mean nothing unless you do something with them:' that's what we've always tried to teach Wade," and then SHE RUBBED THE TOP OF MY HEAD!
My life was over….
- - - - - - -
"I wondered, after meeting Wade for the first time, how he got so smart," Rebecca Jane spoke as she sipped her coffee, then looked into the cup with a big smile on her face.
"Jamaican 'Blue Mountain'! And freshly-ground! I LOVE this coffee, but I can't afford it more than a cup once or twice a month on my budget," she gushed.
"We like it too, dear. I won't drink anything else," Mom replied, and Rebecca Jane looked at her with a new level of respect.
"Forgive me for asking, Dr. Mrs. Load-" and Rachel cut her off.
"Rachel, dear."
"Rachel…you're also a doctor? In what field?" she asked.
"Yes, but I'm not into those horrible computers, except for tracking my paintings and sculptures and the money that they bring," and she laughed, and Arnold had an immediate epiphany:
"You're Rachel Nathan!" he almost jumped from his chair, and Mom nodded.
"I've got prints of your paintings in my room at home. I LOVE YOUR WORK!" Arnold, an art fan? Arnold, gushing? I expected neither….
"Thank you, dear," as Mom, known in the art world as Rachel Nathan (her maiden name) smiled and met yet another fan. "Wade, would you be a dear and bring me one of the prints from my studio? Your friend, at least, deserves an autograph for his compliments," and Arnold almost hyperventilated.
"Amp down, Arnold," Rebecca Jane laughed as I was leaving the room. "I've got her works in my room, as well: 'The Dream of…' is my favorite," she added. Luckily, Mom's studio door was close enough that I could heat the rest of the conversation, so I picked up copies of that one for both of them.
"As usual, my wife gets the big headlines," Dad laughed. "Trust me, I love it," and he was kissing Mom, just as I came back into the room carrying the prints.
"MOM! DAD! Get a room, please!"
"Wade, you're one to talk," Rebecca Jane responded dryly. "What was that medical procedure that you were performing on Jocelyn a few days ago? Oh, yes, the 'full lip checkup,' or was it the 'vertical CPR?'" and Arnold fell off his stool from laughing so hard, Mom and Dad grinned, and I wondered if I still had some of that Aurora orchid pollen left over….
This was not going well for me.
"And, Mr. Dr. Load – I'm sorry, Ryan? What's your area of specialization?" Rebecca Jane asked, and I sighed.
"Oh, I just teach," Dad replied.
'Right and Brittina just sings,' I thought.
"In what area?" she drilled down.
"Political Science, in general," and I saw a look of recognition beginning to brew on Rebecca Jane's face.
"International Relations, and International Law," she stated confidently, and Dad grinned.
"Guilty, as charged," he replied with a smile, and I sighed mentally. 'Here we go, again,' I thought.
"You're that Dr. Ryan!
"I've been studying from your texts work in my graduate program, and I thought you looked familiar: your students kicked our butts in Global Mock Security Council a few years back," she added.
"Where were you, Rebecca Jane?"
"In New Mexico: at Thundercloud, specifically," and Dad grinned real big.
"You have nothing to be ashamed of, dear. That was the first time my students had defeated Thundercloud in competition in 6 years, and we got on a run, after that. You got an excellent education there; that's most likely why you're in Global Justice.
"Wait!" Dad had a thought: that's always scary. "That year, it must have been your sophomore year: you were the Senior Delegate from Chad!"
"You remembered me?" And I saw something I hadn't seen in Montana: Rebecca Jane's dimples came out, full force. Now I knew why Kim was jellin': those dimples were almost as lethal as the Puppy Dog Pout.
"You were amazing; your verbal assault on that poor delegate representing Oman in the session was brilliant and spot on. I told several of my students that they needed to keep an eye on you."
"I'm flattered," and she blushed a Jocelyn Red, and Arnold smiled.
'That boy is so hooked on her, she won't need a net to pull him in,' I thought.
Maybe this wouldn't be so bad, after all….
Boy was I wrong….
-----
"You were also the creator of the 'chaos theory of national and international relations'," Arnold announced with a smug look on his face as he topped Rebecca Jane, and I mentally sighed, once again.
Dad just smiled.
"Yeah, that was me," he acknowledged, sheepishly.
"That was ground-breaking work, Dr. Lo - Ryan! Why are you so quiet about it?"
"Like Rachel said: 'titles mean nothing unless you do something with them.' I just did something with mine, that time," Dad responded.
"Something! You had the both scientific communities on their collective ears with that theory," Rebecca Jane pointed out, and then she grinned, again. "Now, I really know where Wade gets all of it from," she smirked, and Dad and Mom just laughed.
Me? I just wanted my torture to be over.
It was not to be….
"Have you met Jocelyn, Rachel?" Rebecca Jane asked.
'NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!'
"No, I haven't, but I've seen pictures of her when Wade was daydreaming in his room," Mom just smiled. "Now, I know what, or in this case, who, he was daydreaming about."
Are all parents like this, or is it just mine that drive me crazy?
"She's perfect for Wade, Rachel: and, she'll keep him on his toes, as well."
"Is she taller?"
MOM!
Rebecca Jane laughed. "No, ma'am; but she's just as smart as him, and she's way cuter than Kim."
Finally, you got one thing right, Rebecca - Wait: you just told my Mother that my fiancée is way cuter than Kim?
"I worry about my Wade," Mom whispered to herself, but then she put on her 'serious face' as she turned to face me.
"Wade, did you have any problems?" I knew what she was talking about: my agoraphobia.
"No, Mom: I think it's stuffed into its own closet and sealed shut, now; that's only fitting," I added with a grin.
"Son," Dad looked at me, and he had tears in his eyes. "I'm proud of you, very proud. It took courage to face your fears like this, and then to conquer your fears, as well, so completely took enormous inner strength."
Dad's praise felt good, but I had a good reason.
"He had a very good reason, Ryan," Rebecca dead-panned, and they all laughed.
I had to laugh at that one, as well: Jocelyn was, indeed, a very good reason for me to come out of my room and never look back, but I never in my wildest dreams thought that it would turn out like it did.
"Are you ready, Wade?" Mom asked.
"Ready for what, Mom?"
"To see what I've done to your room, dear," and Rebecca Jane and Arnold both perked up.
Oh, no…
"Can we come, too?" Arnold asked.
'NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!'
"Of course; let's go," and Mom got up and led them towards the hall that led to my room.
My life is truly over….
-----
"No, son, I didn't use flowers or the Batman decorations like you used to have in your room," and Arnold snickered, and I wanted to stuff him into a black hole probe.
"Here you go," and Mom pointed to the door with a hand-print reader on it. I pressed my hand to the reader, and the door swung open to reveal…
I just gawked.
"Mom….It's…."
"Son?"
"It's PERFECT, MOM! THANK YOU!" and I grabbed her and hugged her, and everyone pushed us aside and went in, and Rebecca Jane and Arnold stopped just inside the door and whistled.
Mom had done 'a good thing.'
The far wall was half-covered with server racks, communications equipment, Team Possible's backup gear, and the holographic projectors had been re-mounted on the ceiling. The floor was a rich red-colored hardwood in the entrance and up to the servers and my desk, and the area by my bed was bamboo flooring: the perfect mix, and non-static-generating, as well. The walls were painted a deep blue, almost black, except for the wall with the servers: that wall was entirely corked. On the stand next to my desk was my fish tank, and swimming happily was-
"LUCKY!" and I ran over to him.
"Wade, with a fish?" Arnold looked surprised, and I glared at him: Arnold, not Lucky.
"A piranha from the Amazon," I replied as I watched Lucky swim. "A mission souvenir," I added.
"The 'disappearing Kimberly' mission, Wade?" and Betty's voice came from the doorway, and I turned to see her standing there, still in her jumpsuit. Rebecca Jane and Arnold both turned quickly, but Betty waved them down.
"I was on the way home, and I decided to stop by and see if Wade made it back from Donna all right," Betty smiled, and Mom and Dad both turned and stared at me with the obvious question.
"'No Big', Mom. It's over." And Mom and Dad both smiled. I mouthed 'later,' and they both nodded.
"Ryan, how are you treating your angel?" Betty asked, pointing in Mom's direction.
"Just as she deserves, Betty," and Dad stepped over and hugged Betty. "Like the saint that she is, for putting up with me."
"Yep: it's definitely his upbringing," Rebecca Jane stage-whispered to Arnold, and Betty and Arnold both laughed, and Dad just smiled as he went back and hugged Mom.
"Ryan, Rachel: After spending that much time with Wade, I just wish that every parent would raise their children like you've raised Wade: I'd be out of business forever, instead of having to expand it," Betty commented, and Mom and Dad both smiled.
"He was a perfect gentleman," she added, "at least, when I could see him," and I wanted to find another hole, into which, this time, start tossing several people, beginning with Betty.
"I'm just kidding!" Betty added, and I could breathe, again. "Slim said that Wade was 'the best greenhorn varmint' he'd ever had on the ranch, and he was a 'perfect gentleman' to Jocelyn, and that's a direct quote from the brother of Mr. 'Black Hole Probe,' so that certainly means something," and Mom and Dad and Betty all laughed.
"A 'perfect gentleman?' Son, you obviously weren't listening to all of the lessons that I'd been teaching you," Dad chided, and I so wanted to hide for a year or two.
"DAD!"
Betty just laughed, again.
"I'll get my folks out of your hair, and we'll do lunch next week, Rachel; you too, Ryan, if you can break free of the 'gravitational pull' of your students," and Betty motioned towards the door.
"Ryan, Rachel, it's been a pleasure," Arnold said, and Rebecca Jane nodded her agreement.
"Wade: A pleasure, the entire time," Arnold came over and shook my hand.
"Mine, as well, Arnold. Thanks for the jump lessons," and Mom and Dad both gawked at me, and Betty nodded.
"Wade," Rebecca Jane came over and hugged me. She leaned over so she could whisper: "If you were older, or if I were younger, I'd have to give Jocelyn a run for her money. She's a very lucky young woman, and you're a very special man," and then she kissed my cheek, and then she stood tall and saluted me.
I returned her salute, and grinned. "Thanks for all of your help, Rebecca Jane, and I know I'm the lucky one: I have Joss on my side," I replied.
"And, thanks for never calling me 'Becky,'" she grinned as she and Arnold left my room. Dad chortled: he caught the joke.
"Wade," Betty stated simply, and then she grabbed me and hugged me tightly. Months ago, I would have passed out; now, I just smiled and enjoyed what I knew I had in my life, now, and it wasn't battlesuit pictures: it was soo much better: she had blue eyes and red hair, and those boots….
Betty released me, and there were tears in her eyes. "That was from Slim and me, a 'thank you' for all that you did while you were at the ranch: for Slim, for me, and for Jocelyn.
"See you around, Wade," she called, then remembered, "we have a meeting next week on the events that we discussed the last night at the ranch," and she stepped over to Mom and Dad and hugged each of them.
"Thank you," she said through the last of her tears. "Your son was, and is, a miracle worker," she whispered, and then Betty strode out of the room.
We stood there for a few minutes, and then heard Betty peal out after the GJ car pulled away.
"Son, you've got some explaining to do," Mom smiled, and I smiled back.
"'No Big,' Mom," and I ran out of the room before she could reach me and slap me across the head.
-----
"Wade?"
"Yes, Dad?" I was back in my room after successfully avoiding Mom: in reality, Mom had gone to her studio: she had had a new idea for a painting that she said that she 'just had to start.' Besides, were you ever able to avoid your mother when you were in trouble?
"Obviously, some things happened to you while you were in Montana, son. You want to take it from the top?"
I took a deep breath, and used the time to finalize what I was going to say; I'd only been working on it for 3 weeks….
"Start with Donna," Dad suggested, and I nodded.
"I stopped off and saw Donna right before I came home to tell her that I was past it."
"Did Jocelyn do that?"
"Yes sir, she did."
"That must be one incredible young lady, son, if she broke thru all of those barriers that you'd put up, that quickly."
"We had lots of practice breaking barriers, Dad," and I grinned, and Dad just glared.
"NOT that kind, Dad," and he took a deep breath. "Geez, Dad, you're worse than me!
"You knew that that Joss's mom was dead?" and Dad shook his head in the negative.
"She was killed when Joss was three years old, Dad."
Dad went silent for a moment, looked down, and then looked back up, again.
"You helped her get over that, son?" and I nodded, and Dad smiled.
"I'm proud of you, son," and Dad hugged me.
I hugged him back.
I hadn't felt like this, this good, since my hooding for my first PhD.
It was a wonderful feeling.
Dad let me go, and he was smiling.
"I was joking about the proposal when you first got back, son, and I was shocked when you confirmed by omission. Now, I understand why. You two have been through more than most married couples go thru in 25 years of marriage.
"You told her about Stephanie?" He asked, and I nodded.
"She actually pulled it out of me, but none of the details, yet. She told me that I could tell her, but only when I was ready, and not before."
"Wise beyond her years, she is. And, of course, a redhead, correct?"
"With ice-blue eyes," I lost it for a moment, thinking about her eyes, and Dad laughed.
"What does Slim think?" 'Just like his background: direct to the critical point in the case.'
"He said that he'd gladly put her hand in mine when the time came."
"Wow: and I never would have thought that, knowing that Slim's father was 'not exactly liberal,'" Dad's comment brought Slim's description to mind.
"Joss told me that her dad described his dad as being 'slightly to the right of Attila the Hun,'" and Dad laughed.
"That's not too far off a description, son. James and I had a talk when you and Kim started working together: we didn't think that there would be any problems with you two, but some of his relatives were, shall we say, 'not pleased in the least.' James told them where they could stuff it, and he hasn't talked to some of them, since."
"He did that for Kim and me?" That was a surprise: I didn't know anything about that, and I bet that Kim didn't, either. I now had a new, deeper, respect for Kim's dad.
"He did, indeed. He even offered some space probes to some of them for one-way trips," and we both laughed at that. Better them than me.
"When are you going to tell her about Stephanie and what happened to her?" Dad's voice had dropped from his normal jovial tone.
"She'll probably come into town after school has been going for awhile. She's decided to turn her attitude about school around, and she's now taking AP courses. Her IQ's higher than Jim and Tim, but she's never been challenged, nor has she had a reason to challenge herself.
"Donna wants to meet her, and she offered to make dinner in exchange for the story.
"Dad?" and he nodded. He knew where I was going, next.
"Donna called here right after you took off, and your mother went over after she got the news. We all agreed not to tell you, son: we all wanted you to get out of the house," and Dad was one of the few fathers who could say that in a positive manner.
"Dad," and now it was my turn to get misty, "Joss told me that I was her hero," and I lost it, then.
Dad's a guy, ok? He let me let it out, and he just touched my shoulder a couple of times.
"I sat there and listened to her tell about her mother dying in front of her when she was three years old," I sobbed harder now that Joss couldn't see me, "and her tell how she lay on rags next to her dead mother's body for days, and how Betty and her Dad found her, and how she saw her Dad stroke his dead wife's hair, and I just held her, and she called me the hero!"
Dad was quiet for a few minutes, letting me get it all out, and then he held up his hand to get my attention.
"Son, you went up there voluntarily, correct?" Dad asked, and I nodded, and I wiped my nose with my sleeve.
"And, you stayed when you could have left, before all of this happened, correct?
"And, you were fighting your agoraphobia while all of this was going on, correct?
"And, you most likely went thru this with her more than once, correct?
"Son, the hero is the person who stays thru all of this when the alternate, the easy way, to run away, is not taken. You didn't see that, then, did you?" and I just sat there listening to Dad's wisdom, and realized how much of an idiot I had been.
"Son, don't beat yourself up over not understanding this; even a super genius like you would have missed it. You were too close to the forest to see the beautiful orchid intertwined within the grove of poison ivy, all right at arm's reach."
"Dad, how did you learn all of this?" I was honest in my question: Dad could be profound, sometimes.
"I told you, son: I married your mother," and Mom chose that moment to walk in.
"And he's never forgotten just how lucky he is, either," and Mom put her arms around Dad's shoulders and kissed his cheek.
"And, I learned on this trip just how lucky I've been, to have the two of you," I replied, and I hugged them both.
"I love you guys," I said into both of them, and then grinned when I let go.
"And, Mom? Thanks for not pulling out the baby pictures," and Mom laughed.
"So, when am I going to meet the young woman who now has my son's heart?"
"Mom! Don't kid me," and she grabbed my face between her hands.
"Do I look like I'm kidding, son?" and she gave me 'the look,' and I gulped.
"I know how you feel, son, or at least I think I have a pretty good idea.
"I just want you to be happy, Wade," she added, much softer, and she let my face go, and then she asked what Dad had asked already.
"How much does she know about Stephanie?"
"Nothing much more than that she died."
"You didn't tell her how she died?"
"No, Mom, I didn't," and I made the mistake of sounding a bit perturbed.
"Don't take that tone with me, young man!"
"Sorry, Mom." I was three, again, and I had a flashback: Iwas in the peanut butter, drawing a spiral galaxy on the kitchen wall.
"Did you at least tell her that she was a redhead?"
"No," and I thought I saw where Mom was going with this.
"Son, if you don't tell her, fairly soon, she might feel like you're treating her as a substitute.
"At the very least, tell her the redhead part before she comes down; that's what I would want to know, if I were her, considering that she was competing against Kimberly."
"She wasn't competing against Kim!"
"And, can you look me in the eye and tell me that, at no time did she ever tell you that she wasn't Kim?" Mom backed up and sat on the corner of my bed; Dad had already taken my desk chair, and he was enjoying watching me did myself a hole on my first day back.
"You're right, Mom," I conceded after replaying the argument that started us down our new path.
"I'll call her tonight and tell her; it's the least I can do, and if she wants to call it quits…." and I couldn't even think the unimaginable.
"Wade, she won't be upset, and she won't leave you. Trust your mother on this," and she stood and hugged me.
"That's what she said: 'she wouldn't leave me,'" and I got some water in my eye.
"I'll be there, too, if you need me," and she grinned.
"MOM!"
"Welcome home, son," she added, much softer, and then she looked me up and down in the mother-measuring mode.
"I guess we're going to have to go clothes shopping, but this time it'll be for taller and thinner clothes," she commented.
"I bought some while I was there, and Slim gave us some ranch shirts and pants, too."
"I'm losing my little man," and Mom teared up.
"MOM!"
"I'm serious, Wade. You left here not sure how long you'd last, and you come back with less of you and another woman in your life to care about, and now you're even buying your own clothes, and I haven't even met her!" and Mom started crying.
I couldn't handle it.
Mom's tears were worse than Kim's PDP ever dreamed of becoming.
"Mom, I love you," and I hugged her. "And, there's room in my heart for all of you, and you'll never be pushed out," and she made me start crying.
"How did you get so smart?" Mom said thru her tears.
"I had good role models, Mom: you and Dad," and I grinned.
I was home again, but it was a different feeling, this time, and not just because of the room redeaux: I was more comfortable with myself, this time, in all ways.
I loved my room. Mom didn't disappoint me; but, then, when had Mom ever disappointed me?
My only wish was that I could have shared this moment with Joss, as well
That thought reminded me how lucky I was.
I need to get her down here real soon. She and Mom will get along great.
No need for the mother-in-law jokes.
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chapter now complete….
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A/N: Wade's parents are part of the reason that Wade is Wade, but there's much more that makes him who he is, now.
The next chapter is Jocelyn starting her new life 'with Wade,' at least in spirit, and the first commitment….
Question: What do you get when you have one unbroken, redheaded classroom troublemaker/slacker start her freshman year at high school by joining all AP classes, trying out for both the cheerleading and rodeo teams, and, to top it all off, start the year with a boyfriend?
Answer: you get Jocelyn Possible's story about starting school in a new frame of mind in chapter two of Training Table Blues: School-Year Transformation Blues.
Thanks for reading, and please review.