Define, Hell IV (or, Define, Hell, IIII): Changes, and Christmas
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.
This is not a part of the (shameless plug) Blue Eyes, Shining stories or the JadeKimVerse, but judging from the reviews of the original tale, I've been charged with show the aftermath of Ron's actions, Kim's behavior, and Bonnie's breakfast.
I hope that you enjoy this: you can blame Cindy for this story (yes, it's the same Cindy that sent me the ANC picture that spawned "Merry Christmas, Momma" and "Paint Me a Christmas Memory:" she's a closet Plot Bunny).
A/N Forward:
Questions:
What happens after Define, Hell III: The Sequel?
After Kim accepted Ron's proposal, did James decommission the probe request?
What did the Tweebs do to Bonnie's car?
What will Bonnie think of Felix?
What will Bonnie do when she gets home with the car, new boyfriend, two Cuddlebuddies, and a whole potful of self-esteem?
What happened to Monique when she and Felix broke up?
And, Steve Barkin and Dr. Vivian Frances Porter-Barkin: will Steve survive the honeymoon?
What about others: Wade, for example?
Answer:
More surprises….
We have angst, we have fluff (and, there will be smuff), and we have…well, I'm not sure what you'll call it all, but it's here.
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Define, Hell IV (or, Define, Hell, IIII): Changes, and Christmas
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Chapter 1: eyes, arms and legs
(Previously, in Define, Hell III: The Sequel):
"Open the last one, Bonnie: it's from the Tweebs," Ron grinned, and Jim and Tim high-fived.
Bonnie took longer this time: the Tweebs had taped every possible place that a fingernail could have gotten into, but she finally opened the box and retrieved…
"Keys?" Bonnie stared at them, and then she recognized them.
"MY KEYS!" and the Tweebs nodded.
"We decided-"
"That you deserved your car back-"
"Especially since you zapped Kim-"
"Even better than we ever did-"
"When she lived here."
"It runs better now-"
"that we fixed the engine-"
"And you don't have to become-"
"Car Monkey 2.1, Bonnie-"
"Because we like you."
"So, if you want a date-"
"And want twice the fun-"
"Call us, ok?"
"TWEEBS!"
"Gotta go-"
"Bye-bye, Bonnie," and they disappeared out of the kitchen followed by Kim.
"Some things never change," Ron noted, and he smiled at Bonnie, now sitting at the kitchen table staring at her keys and her CuddleBuddies, her normally-perfect face now tear-streaked "and some do."
"Here, Bonnie," and Ron handed her a towel to wipe her face.
"Thanks, loser," Bonnie grinned as she took the towel.
"And, some things remain the same," Ron chuckled, and Bonnie winked at him.
"Hell is where you find it, Bonnie, so quit looking for it, and you'll find heaven."
"Someone call for an angel?" and a wheelchair came flying into the kitchen.
"FELIX!" Ron yelled, and he grabbed Felix Renton as he landed.
"Where's the ball and chain, Felix?"
"No more, Ron-man: Mon dumped me: she said I wasn't in love with her," Felix looked sad, but then he turned and saw Bonnie sitting at the table.
'That could be for the best,' Felix thought, and he moved over to Bonnie.
"Hello, BonBon," he smiled, and Bonnie smiled back.
Ron grinned.
'Felix has gone from Hell to Heaven in a single moment,' Ron thought.
-----
Bonnie was in the Possible back yard with snow flurries falling, Felix by her side as she finished her final task.
"Pandaoo, I'm sorry," she said over the freshly-mounded dirt, placing a white rose on the pile.
"I was jealous of you and Kim, and I took it out on you.
"Do you forgive me, Pandaroo?
"I hope you do," as she hugged her two CuddleBuddies. "I think you do, especially since Ron and Kim have both forgiven me."
"I have my new friends in Kim and Ron," and they smiled from inside the house, "and I have my two new friends here," and she squeezed her CuddleBuddies, "and, on top of that, I may have an even newer friend here, as well," and she reached down and took Felix's hand, squeezing it.
"I've been through Hell, but I think I'm out of it, now," she said as she walked away with Felix's hand in hers, heading back inside for more warmth.
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And, now, Define, Hell IV (or, Define, Hell, IIII): Changes, and Christmas
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Chapter 1: eyes, arms and legs
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Bonnie Rockwaller and Felix Renton re-entered the Possible home after Bonnie said goodbye to Kim's Pandaroo while holding her Pandaroo and Kangacat, as well as holding Felix's hand.
Felix was convinced he'd struck the mother lode.
"So, Felix," Bonnie opened the door to the mud room, "are you a sophomore, too, or have you gone up a year?"
"Actually, Bonnie, I'm a senior now," Felix guided his chair through the line of shoes and coats and laundry equipment. "I'm a first semester senior, but I expect to graduate from MiST in the summer and go into the graduate program in the fall," Felix beamed.
'This gorgeous woman is interested in me!'
"Wow, Felix, how'd you do that?" Bonnie was genuinely surprised and smiled broadly.
"Lots of AP classes in high school, Bonnie, and I talked my way through several introductory and second-year classes in the summer before my freshman year and in that first semester," he pulled a chair out for Bonnie, and she sat, placing her Cuddlebuddies on the table.
"I'm impressed, Felix," and Bonnie was sincere. She had tried to get into MiST but didn't get the scholarships she wanted, so she indeed up at GCU; not that GCU is a bad place, she thought, but my sisters were there….
"Bonnie, are you all right?" Felix reached over and took Bonnie's right hand in his. "You look unnerved, and a bit rattled, too," he added, and Bonnie lowered her eyes.
"I don't want to go home, Felix, but I have to, to talk to my Dad and see if I can get my money back for college," she began, and she broke down at the table, bawling uncontrollably.
"Bonnie!" Felix moved around and put his arm around her, pulling her in close to him.
"Bonnie, your parents took your college money away?" Felix asked, shocked, and Bonnie nodded while she cried.
Felix looked up and saw Ron and Kim standing in the doorway, watching the couple. Ron caught Felix's eye and gave him a big wink and a nod, neither caught by Kim, and Felix nodded imperceptibly.
"Bonnie, I'll go with you to your parents, if you'd like," and she looked up at him, tears streaking her face and trying to smile.
"Why, Felix?"
"Bonnie, you never knew how much I liked you during high school, did you?" and Bonnie held her face calm as her heart jumped. "I always assumed that you'd never go with me since you were always with the jocks, so I never said anything or took a chance.
"I've learned since high school, Bonnie, that I'll never get what I want if I'm not willing to take a chance. I dated Tara, and I even dated Monique, but they weren't you. Monique dumped me two weeks ago, and I never understood why until I saw you this evening when I came in: I liked Monique and Tara both, but I could never love them because I was still in love with you," and Felix smiled.
"Nothing may happen, or my wildest fantasies may come true," and Felix's smile was huge, causing Bonnie to laugh out loud, "but either way or any way, I'll have finally taken that chance.
"Am I even in the ballpark in having a chance, my Bonita Bonnie?" he asked, and her kiss was his answer.
-----
"Hey, if you want the car, you'd better let him go," and Bonnie looked up from her kiss and saw the Tweebs behind her, dangling a set of keys from each of their right hands.
"It's stopped snowing outside for a bit, Bonnie-"
"And we thought you'd want to see your car-"
"and find out what we added to it-"
"hoping that you'd be interested in having it back-"
"even after what all we did to you-"
"We're sorry, Bonnie."
Felix backed away to let Bonnie stand, then pulled her into his lap and lifted his chair.
"Lead the way, guys," Felix headed for the living room.
"We didn't put a stick shift in, Bonnie-"
"But it looks like you'll be bringing your own stick to the car-"
"Hicka-bicka-boo?"
"Hoo-sha!" and Jim and Tim high-fived each other while Felix blushed.
"Jim! Tim!" and she pointed at each of them in turn, causing their jaws to drop and them to grind to a halt. "No more comments like that, ok, guys?"
"She recognized us!" Jim exclaimed.
"And we didn't even have to tell her!" Tim added.
"Do'i, boys! I've known who was who the whole time, Tim," and Bonnie smiled as she pointed at Tim.
"But, How?" as Tim opened the door, and Felix flew out the door with Bonnie, followed by Jim, Kim, and Ron.
"Well?" Tim asked, holding a remote, and Bonnie jumped from Felix's lap and ran to her car that she hadn't seen for over two years, after the 'young men' had removed it from existence.
She stopped a step away from it and leaned over to touch it gingerly.
Her car was there: it wasn't a hologram.
She opened the door, and it opened smoother than it had when it was new.
She looked inside, and the interior was immaculate: white leather seats, a white dash and steering wheel, even white pedals and carpet.
She looked in the back, remembering that they had rebuilt her car the first time with a back seat: the back seating area looked as lovely as the front, and just as comfortable.
"We added a few features that we thought you'd like-" and Tim hit the remote, and Bonnie squealed from surprise:
The car changed from pure white to candy-apple red, then a deep blue with grey interior, then a sharp silver-grey exterior with a pale grey interior, then back to the white.
"We didn't know what color you'd like, Bonnie,"
"so we borrowed Dr. Freeman's transformation capability."
Bonnie stepped into her car, and Felix opened the other door.
"Felix, give us five minutes after we go over everything with Bonnie-"
"And the car will be totally accessible to you and your chair, ok, Bonnie?"
"That's fine, Jim," she smiled at him, and he shook his head, still surprised.
"We solved your fuel problems, Bonnie,"
"You'll get about 75 MPG on this engine, now that we've upgraded it,"
"You're now multi-powered: gasoline, ethanol, electric, flywheel energy storage, and battery backup."
"But, aren't batteries heavy?" Bonnie asked, and Jim and Tim both laughed.
"Not Our Batteries," they replied simultaneously, and Bonnie stepped out of the car.
"Jim," Bonnie motioned to him with one finger as she walked around the front of the car, and he walked up to her.
"Yes, Bonnie?"
Bonnie smiled, pulled Jim to her and kissed him on the mouth for a very, very long time.
Felix jelled for a moment, but he got over it quickly.
Kim tried to keep from laughing at the body language that Jim was exhibiting.
Ron was smiling and trying to decide if his free hand should head down Kim's back to her beautilicious posterior.
When Bonnie let him go, Jim had a permanent smile plastered on his face.
"Thank you, Jim," Bonnie whispered, and Jim nodded.
"Hicka-bicka-boo?" came from Tim.
"Hoo," and Jim fell over backwards, the smile still on his face.
Tim looked at Jim, lying face-up on the ground with a smile on his face, looked at Bonnie who was motioning to him with the same single digit, and decided:
He strode over to Bonnie and met her lips with his.
When Bonnie finally let him go, Tim had the same permanent smile plastered on his face, a twin of Jim's smile.
"Hoo-sha, indeed," and Tim fell over backwards, out like a light, the smile still on his face and matching Jim's face.
"Talking about your stick shifts," Felix noted with a smirk in his voice, and Bonnie looked at Jim and Tim, just now starting to recover, and she and Felix both laughed, joined by Ron and Kim.
"We'll leave you alone for 10 minutes, guys," Felix motioned to Bonnie, and she sauntered over seductively and sat in Felix's lap as his chair rose and headed back inside, followed by Ron and Kim.
"Did she-"Tim asked, and Jim licked his lips.
"She most certainly did, Brother Bear," Jim replied.
"Felix is one lucky man, Jim," Tim stated as he stood, shakily.
"He is, indeed, Tim, eh?" Jim added as he stood, still shaking a bit, and they both smiled as they headed to modify the car to make it Felix-accessible.
-----
Bonnie and Felix came out in 15 minutes, and Jim and Tim were standing next to the car with no seats, front or back.
"What happened?" Bonnie cried, and Jim tossed her a remote.
"Pick one," he grinned, and Bonnie touched the pad where DSF was indicated, and the driver's seat rose from the floor.
"'Spankin,'" Kim said, and Ron held her as she shook for a moment.
"If Felix drives-"came from Tim,
"the steering wheel is configurable for hand controls, as well," Jim finished.
"Oh, and by the way, your car can't be stolen-"
"the ignition is biometric controlled-"
"and requires both the key-"
"and your palm-print to start the car,"
"We thought you could use a bit of security-"
"Being in a college town and all," and Tim raised the roof on the car as the snow started up again.
"So, there you go, Bonnie,"
"Merry Christmas from Jim and Tim,"
"And thanks for the kisses, too," they both smiled.
"Oh, yeah! Thank you soooo much," Tim grinned. "This is good for a week or two worth of dreams-"
"for you, maybe; I got a month's worth from her kiss," Jim countered, and they high-fived each other and, turning to face Bonnie, bowed to her and then ran and hugged her together.
"I still don't understand why, guys," Bonnie stood as Felix came over and took her hand.
"We were mean to you, Bonnie,"
"and you didn't deserve how we treated you,"
"and, besides, our girlfriends threatened us,"
"so we had to deliver for Christmas,"
"Or there would be no Christmas goodies-"
"for Jim and Tim," and they both smiled.
"An ulterior motive: Now, That I can Understand.
"Regardless, guys, thank you ever so much," and she kissed each of their cheeks this time.
"I didn't want to stop blood flow from the head," Bonnie joked, and Felix roared with laughter while Jim and Tim both blushed mightily.
"Shall we retire to the 'Land of the Forgotten Daughter,' my Bonita Bonnie?" Felix asked, and Bonnie started to speak.
"Your luggage is in the trunk already, Bonnie," Jim started,
"So no worries there," and Tim finished.
"The only things left are these," and Felix reached behind him and produced the two Cuddlebuddies, re-boxed and ready for transport. He placed them in the back seat and deployed the net.
"Good job, Felix!" Jim grinned.
"We didn't mention the cargo protection net: how did you know?"
"D'oi, guys? Did you look at the patent holder on it?" Felix grinned.
"oops…." Came from both of them.
Bonnie asked as she got in the car and pulled on her seat belt. Felix maneuvered his chair into the front passenger slot and anchored his chair to the car, then slid on the seat belt, laughing as he did.
"Ready, Felix?" Bonnie, asked, and Felix leaned over and kissed her cheek.
"Ready, my beautiful Bonnie," and she palmed the dash and turned the key as she blushed, and the car started.
She touched the accelerator, and the car glided forward and headed towards the Rockwaller residence.
'Won't this be fun?' she thought as she left a place where she never expected to receive as much love as she had, let alone find a new love that had been in front of her for so long, to go to a place where she should have received all the love in the world but received none.
Beep-beep-da-Beep!
Kim reached down and pulled out her Kimmunicator.
"Wade! How are you doing, my friend?"
"A bit better, Kim," Wade looked like he'd aged 20 years in the past 3; his curly hair had gone fully grey in the lat two years, before he'd turned 16, and he had lost so much weight that Kim almost didn't recognize him. His eyes, their usual sparkle long gone, were covered by the shades that he now wore all the time.
"I've got a mission for the Tweebs, but they're not picking up. You want me to forward it to Global Justice?"
"Who is it, Wade?"
"Nothing major, Kim: Drakken again. He's trying to take over the world from his asylum room, and the doctors can't calm him down. He swears that he's in charge of Canada, or Drakkanada, as he's calling it," Wade laughed, and Ron squeezed her tightly.
"Your advice, Wade?"
"Send it to Global Justice: Betty won't mind, especially when I give her the news," he grinned.
"Congratulations, Kim: you'll be a beautiful bride, I just know it," and Kim stifled back her sob.
"Thank you, Wade," Kim smiled. "Once again, Wade, you rock," and she cut the signal to the Kimmunicator and broke down in heaving sobs.
"Why, Ron?" she pounded him on his back, her fists balled up as he held her tightly. "Why did it have to be Wade, his parents, Uncle Slim, and Joss, of all people, to be the only ones?
"Why couldn't I save them?" She asked, and Ron shook his head.
"He doesn't tell us, Kim; it's not for us to question what happens. It's only for us to deal with the results and move forward."
"But, Wade?" She sobbed, and looked up, and Ron screamed inside as the emerald eyes bore into his soul.
"He never hurt anyone, so why did he have to end up blind, and why did his parents have to die in the Diablos sitch?
"Why did Uncle Slim have to die?
"Why did Cousin Joss have to end up with only one arm and one leg, Ron?
"WHY?" Kim railed into the Christmas season night, and the snow fell onto her face as she looked skyward and Ronward for answers.
The falling snow gave her no answers.
-----
"Bonnie?" Felix had been thinking as Bonnie drove down the street, a feat quite difficult because he was distracted by Bonnie herself.
"Yes, Felix?"
"Am I an idiot?"
"No, Felix, why would you even ask that?
"I've just been thinking: maybe I'm pressuring you too much by telling you how I feel."
"No, Felix, you're not," and Bonnie glanced over at him and smiled.
"It's been so long since someone has told me that they loved me: that's why I reacted like I did.
"I'm scared for you, Felix," and he looked at her, puzzled.
"I'm scared that you'll spend one evening with my family, and you'll never want to see me or be with me again," and Bonnie couldn't help it: a tear snuck out of her right eye and walked down her cheek.
"Felix, I wouldn't blame you if you did," and Felix reached over and touched her cheek with the back of his left hand, collecting the tear and bringing it back to his face, touching his own with her tear.
"Nothing could drive me away from you, Bonnie, unless it's you that tell me to leave: I'll go, but even if you tell me to leave, you'll still have my heart."
"That's corny, Felix," Bonnie grinned.
"That's the kind of guy I am, Bonnie: I'm a full-fledged, incurable, filled with still-on-the-cob corn, romantic, and I hope to show you that side of me for the rest of our lives," Felix smiled, and silently prayed that his dream would finally come true.
Bonnie drove on, wondering if she was ready for love after everything she'd had, and then she thought back to what Ron had told her:
'…no one deserves to be treated cruelly, Bonnie.…'
'I deserve respect: who'd have thought I'd learn that from the one person I least respected, the one person who took a chance with me?' she glanced quickly over at Felix and smiled.
'He is cute; no, he's gorgeous! Why didn't I ever notice that before?' and Bonnie drove onward, mentally licking her lips.
-----
Wade moved back in his chair, hearing Kim's railing through the extra connection he'd installed in her Kimmunicator in case she was incapacitated or the unit was stolen.
'That was a long time ago,' Wade thought, and he reached over to the last thing he'd grabbed and saw before the Diablo took his eyes:
The picture of Jocelyn Possible.
He could still see her in his mind's eye: she was as radiant as Kim, her beautiful red hear flowing in the breeze, and she was closer to his age. He had thought about going up to see her that summer before-
"Before Drakken unleashed his hell on earth," he said out loud.
She had tried to protect her Dad when the Diablos attacked their home; Drakken had targeted them to die, but he only partially succeeded.
Tornado had managed to fight off two of the Diablos before he was crushed, Slim had managed to take two out himself before the last one fell on top of the house. Jocelyn had to cover him with her body, but all it did was result in Slim's death and the loss of Joss' right arm and left leg.
"If I could see, I'd build her replacements myself, and I'd have her," Wade whispered, and he lifted his face skyward as he clutched her picture.
"Mom, Dad:
"I miss you so much, but you would be proud," he said with a smile. "I got out of my room, and I'll never be limited to one room again."
"The Bests are the best, Mom; they've done everything to help me that they could, and they even helped me place the monuments on your graves," he whispered.
"I'm glad Kim didn't know when she captured Drakken and Shego," Wade smiled as he remembered telling Kim what had happened after she called in and told him that the two were in custody. He was, by this time, in the Middleton Hospital and a Kimmunicator in his hand, still trying to handle the after-effects of the disaster that Drakken had wrought. "She would have killed them, and then she would never have had her life, or Ron," and Wade so very dearly wanted to cry, but he couldn't – not any more.
"Wade, are you all right?" a feminine voice called to him from the doorway, and Wade smiled.
"I'm fine, Sarah, just fine," and Sarah Janine Best came into his room and held his shoulders.
"Are you sure, little brother?" she leaded over and kissed his cheek.
"I'm sure, Big Sis, I'm sure. I was just talking to Mom and Dad," and Sarah teared up when she heard it.
"Don't cry, Sarah: they're fine, and they're in Heaven with Slim and Stephanie and Sheri Nicole, all looking down on Jocelyn and guiding her," he replied, crunching his face as he now did in lieu of tears as she removed her hands from his shoulders.
"How did you-?"
"I heard you, Sarah: the ears hare gotten better," he smiled.
"It works, Wade," Sarah stated calmly, and Wade turned suddenly and reached out for her hand.
"Are you sure, Sarah? Are you sure?" She took his hand and squeezed it.
"Positive, Wade. Justine, Chip, and I have tested it multiple times, and we're sure: Vivian Porter's concepts and your design marry perfectly: on the screen, in the lab, and in real world," and Wade's face lit up.
"Your design for limbs is not only functional, but we have some already ready to use whenever you're ready to tell the world," she smiled at the thought that the blind 16-year-old had designed all of the intricate circuitry to create a fully-functional artificial limb that could not be distinguished from the real limb when attached to a live person.
"It's for her, isn't it?" Sarah looked at the picture in his other hand.
"Yes, Sarah, it's for Jocelyn Possible. It's the least I could do after I failed-" and Wade fell into Sarah's chest, sobbing.
"Wade, we've been through this until I'm blue in the face, and that's not a good color for me, face-wise," Sarah joked, then squeezed Wade's hand.
"It wasn't your fault, Kim doesn't blame you, and neither does Jocelyn.
"My God, Wade, you lost your parents and your eyes in the same attack! What more could you give?" she was yelling at him now, having taken his face between her hands.
"My life," he whispered, and Sarah went for the jugular:
"Listen, little brother," Sarah pressed her hands into his face, and stared directly at him, trying not to break down:
"It's.
"Not.
"Your.
"Fault.
"Got it?"
"Yes, ma'am," Wade smiled, almost convinced.
"You keep this up, and it's black-eyed pea Jell-O for you for two months, you got me?" she smiled through the tears pouring down her face.
"Yes, ma'am," and Wade smiled: he knew whenever she brought out the Jell-O threat that he was all right with her.
"Good; now, come on, Mom has dinner ready, and growing scientists need to eat; besides, you're got the defense for your second PhD in January, and you've not done near enough to get ready for it," Sarah smiled as she headed for the door.
"I'll be there in a few, Sarah."
She closed the door and looked upward.
'Why, God, didn't you take me, take my sight," Sarah asked Heavenward, "instead of his sight and his parents, after all he's been through, after all he's done for the world?'
'Why, God, why?' she asked, and she felt the same answer she always received, or at least she believed she received:
Wade is destined for something bigger than his eyes could see.
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Author's afterward:
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This entire series has been AU, but it's truly come out of the closet now. I was halfway through this chapter, convinced that I was finished, when the rest hit me like a kiloton of bricks, and the brick kept falling like rain: they're still coming down…..
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Next, on Define, Hell IV (or, Define, Hell, IIII): Changes, and Christmas:
"Jocelyn! Breakfast!"
"I'll be down in a moment, Nana, please and thank you," I finally opened my eyes, and he was the first thing I saw, hanging on my wall above the landing stairs:
'Good morning, Dr. Load,' I mentally called out to him, every morning.
It was an old picture, one from before the Diablos, but he was cute then.
I had seen his pictures afterward, and I still had the incurable urge to kiss the man.
I was afraid, though:
I was afraid that he wouldn't want to be around a cripple, even for a friend.
"But, I'll get better, and you'll see, Dr. Load: I'll have you for my very own," I announced to the sky, and I swung my leg over the edge and reached for my artificial leg, slipping it on and connecting everything, then slipping on my arm and connecting what I could: Nana would have to do the rest.
Nana!
She hadn't planned to bury both a daughter-in-law and a son within such a short period of time less than 10 years, and I know she had planned to enjoy her retirement in Florida.
"Things change, Andrea Jocelyn," she had told me at Daddy's funeral at Arlington, as they placed him in the ground next to Momma.
"I'll be here for you, as long as I can, or as long as you need me," and she hugged me and let me cry as Momma's college friend, Betty Director, came over in her Navy dress uniform and handed me the flag.
"I'm so sorry, Jocelyn," she had said, and the tears in her eye was genuine.
I stood, slipped off my gown, slipped on my bra, and pulled on a shirt, then blew Wade a kiss as I headed down the stairs.
I was getting better at it.
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Next, on Define, Hell IV (or, Define, Hell, IIII): Changes, and Christmas:
Chapter 2: Nana and me
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Thank you, to all of you, for continuing to support me and provide me with a sounding board.
Thanks again for reading, and please review.