Second Chances
Disclaimer: I do not own Kim Possible; however I claim the multitude of minor original characters in here for my own!
Chapter One: Life's ups and downs
-Go City-
Ron sat in the hospital room nervously waiting for news on Kim. His and Kim's dads were far more calm, they had had told him that the first time was the worst, well Kim's dad had said that, his own dad had said that for all the anxiety the result was more than worth it. Ron wasn't so sure at the moment though, Kim had been in labor for ten hours so far and only the fact that her mom was helping with the delivery kept him from knocking as many heads as it took to get into the delivery room. Well that and the fact that his dad, Kim's dad, and the twins were all sitting around him and despite the fact that they all looked quite busy he knew they were watching him and were ready to pounce at the first sign of movement.
It was his mother of all people who had proven the calmest of everyone there, she had been running regular infusions of hot chocolate and tea into all the men for the past several hours and yet still appeared as unruffled as the moment she had walked through the hospital doors. Ron for his part was considerably more ruffled, when Kim had told him her water had broken he had panicked, like she knew he would, and Kim had to pour a pitcher of water over him to calm him down. Once the couple had gotten to the hospital Ron had called the assistant managers at his restaurant to let them know he'd be taking the next few days off and he was sure that his messages sounded so nervous that they would all be calling him back to ask what he had been talking about.
Ron let his head slump onto the back of the seat he was in and sighed. He shouldn't have just been sitting there worrying, he should have been trying to decide between the names he and Kim had narrowed their list down to. But he couldn't really do that until he saw the baby; he and Kim had opted to not have the doctor tell them the sex of the baby and had narrowed their choices down to a few boy names and a few girl names. Plus whatever name he decided on for each list didn't necessarily mean that Kim would decide on the same one.
"How are you doing honey?" His mom appeared in front of him with a smile and a steaming cup of what smelled like tea.
"Well you'd have to get in there and ask Kim," Ron took the cup, "but I'm not sure which one of us is more anxious for this to be over with right now."
"You really should relax," his mom sat down next to him, "you know though, it's quite good that there are so many men with you right now. I remember when I was in here with you, it took five male nurses to keep your father out of the delivery room and he only sat down when a doctor threatened him with sedation."
"Really?" Ron snorted into his tea, "dad?"
"Dear don't lie to Ronald," his father said from where he and Kim's dad were wiling away the time with nickel and dime poker, "I sat down before the doctor came in to sedate me and it took six male nurses to keep me out of your mother's delivery room, and one of them was a former nightclub bouncer."
Ron just stared back and forth between his parents in utter disbelief, this was a story he had never heard before. As a matter of fact Ron couldn't remember his parents ever telling him any stories about when his mom had been carrying him. Of course his dad had warned him about mood swings, and cravings and the like, but Kim's dad had told him as much when he'd ordered Ron to look out for his little girl.
"I remember waiting for Kim to be born," Mr. Dr. P laughed from the impromptu poker table, "I had the final draft of a half billion dollar space probe due to the board the very next day. Oh I was a real wreck, had about four of these tables strapped together all covered with blueprints and every five minutes I was getting up and asking a nurse to go into the delivery room and see if anything had changed. Of course when Jim and Tim were born I was so busy keeping Kim from bouncing off the walls with boredom that I was too busy to get nervous myself."
"Okay that makes me feel a little better," Ron sighed, "at least someone handled this worse than I did the first time around. But um someone can't go in there and check on Kim just to make me feel better can they?"
"Oh Ronald," his mom reached up to ruffle his hair, "just sit back, relax, and before you know it Dr. Possible will be coming out of that room with a million watt smile on her face and you'll rush in there only to find that everything went perfect. Now stay there drink your tea and let the doctors do their job."
"That's not what I'm worried about," Ron's voice was nervous, "what if I'm not a good dad? I mean Kim will be fine, she's the girl who can do anything, but I'm just a regular guy."
"Regular guys have been doing this since the dawn of time," Mr. Dr. P. laughed, "you'll do fine Ronald, there's no one else I'd rather have look after Kimmie and there's no one else I'd rather see look after my grandchildren."
After that Ron sat quietly and sipped at his tea as it slowly cooled down. His mom picked up a news magazine and started idly thumbing through it while Jim and Tim joined his and Kim's dad at their makeshift poker game at which his dad seemed to be doing quite well. An hour passed and Ron was staring down into the bottom of his cup, he was about to get up to toss the remnants of his now ice cold tea in the trash when something in him told him to look up. He saw Mrs. Dr. P. walking towards him and even before she put on her 'doctor' face Ron could feel what had happened.
"Ron," Mrs. Dr. P. said in a very soft voice, she looked up into his face and saw that he knew what she was going to say before going on, "everything was going fine until the baby started passing Kim's pelvis. When she was going through Kim's pelvis cracked, which isn't very common but typically isn't anything too worrisome, just a few more weeks off your feet. What happened though was that somehow a chip came off and cut Kim's femoral artery, we noticed it immediately but by the time we had made the incision to sew it up she was already too far gone."
Ron just stood there in stunned disbelief watching as tears started running down Kim's mom's cheeks, the two families who had stood with baited breath when she had first come out were as shock still as Ron was, and even the normal bustle and noise of the hospital seemed to come from miles away.
Ron stood there for almost a whole minute before he found the willpower to speak, "and… and… the baby?"
Mrs. Dr. P. wiped her eyes and took a breath before answering, "I guess every cloud does have a silver lining, you have a beautiful baby daughter Ron, she has Kim's eyes and your hair. And before she… well Kim had some last words, she said for me to tell you that she loves you and that she doesn't want you to mourn her till you're old and gray but for you to be happy."
Ron closed his eyes as he felt tears start to leak out of his own eyes and down his cheeks, his eyes opened when he felt a hand come to rest on his shoulder and he turned to see his father standing there with one arm on his shoulder and another around his mom whose cheeks were glistening with tears of her own.
"Ron son," his father said in a voice heavy with grief, "I… I'm not sure what to say right now but is there anything we can do to help?"
Ron looked down at his father as the question circled around in his head. The only thing he could think of that he wanted right now was to go to the top of the tallest mountain he could find and rage at the heavens till the skies themselves came down from the depths of his grief and sorrow. Scratch that, he could think of something he wanted more, to see the only good thing that had come from having the love of his life cruelly ripped away before her time.
Turning to Mrs. Dr. P. he slowly said, "Is there any way I can see the baby?"
Kim's mom turned her head to a waiting nurse who nodded after the two made eye contact, the redhead turned back to Ron and said, "Sure I think that would be for the best, she'll be in the nursery though. There's a lot of blood in the delivery room and I didn't think you'd need to see that, once they get Kim cleaned up though I suppose you could also see the… body if you wanted."
"Thanks," Ron said to the woman who had been a second mother to him over the years, "should I just follow the nurse?"
Kim's mom nodded and Ron slowly took off after the nurse, they walked past the doors to the delivery rooms and Ron couldn't help but let his gaze linger. Finally though he arrived in the nursery, it was cheerfully lit and filled with little beds with even tinier occupants wearing pink and blue hats. The nurse led him to one of the beds with a pink hated baby and on the end of the bed he saw the nametag with 'Stoppable' on it. Ron rested his arms on the edges and looked into the bed and saw his little girl sleeping, as though she somehow knew he was looking at her a tiny set of eyes opened to reveal a very familiar shade of green.
"Hey there little lady," Ron whispered, "daddy's really sad right now but he still loves you. And don't you worry because I'll do everything I can to make sure you grow up nice and happy."
"Excuse me, Mr. Stoppable?" the nurse said as though hesitating to intrude on the moment, "we still have to fill out the birth certificate and a few other papers, we were wondering if you and your wife had decided on a name for your daughter."
Ron looked at the nurse and then down at his daughter, it wasn't his choice but he knew that Kim had wanted to use the name if they had a daughter and as he spoke he felt like Kim was a little nearer to him, "Samantha, Samantha Anne Stoppable."
-One month later-
"Are you sure you'll be alright?" Ron said to the little old lady in front of him.
"Oh go on, we'll be fine." She replied
Mrs. Henderson was Ron's townhouse next-door neighbor, a ninety year old widow who had lost all three of her sons in Vietnam she was amazingly enough friends with Nana Possible and had quickly become friends with Kim and Ron when the couple had moved into the townhouse soon after marrying. Having no grandchildren of her own and being friends with Samantha's great grandmother Mrs. Henderson saw it as her mission to spoil the little girl in the absence of her grandparents as well as watching her when Ron had to go to work or other such things like buy more baby supplies.
"Okay then," Ron said, "I'll have my cell phone on and remember to call me if anything happens."
Mrs. Henderson closed the door laughing as Ron turned around and started walking towards the Smarty Mart down the road. Sure he could drive but he wanted to take advantage of an actually mild October night and Mrs. Henderson had hinted that she wanted to spend some time with Samantha, so Ron had decided that he could walk to Smarty Mart, get a bit less than he had originally planned and just pick up the remainder after work the next day.
Ron walked down the street at a rather leisurely pace, he lived in a fairly nice suburb and had really very little to worry about, particularly since he and Kim had continued saving the world even if at a more sedate pace and he was as a result more than qualified to take down any would be assailants. Ron looked up at the stars and tried to imagine he could see Kim up there, as he looked up into the heavens he also thought about whether to take Samantha to church or synagogue when she got old enough. His and Kim's mixed faiths had never been much of a problem, Rabbi Katz had flown out to perform a Christian funeral for Kim a week after she died and no one had seemed to mind.
So absorbed was Ron in his thoughts and staring up at the night sky that he had forgotten to pay any attention to the path in front of him. So it came as a complete surprise when he hit something and landed hard on his backside. Lifting his head he saw a pair of feet and knew he had hit someone rather than something, profusely apologizing Ron started grabbing things off the ground and returning them to the woman he had walked into. At least Ron hoped it was a woman, the purse really was a telling detail, finally with everything picked up Ron looked up to get a look at the face of the woman he had walked into but all words fled him when he saw who he had walked into.
-Twelve hours earlier-
Bonnie Rockwaller-Mankey groaned as her alarm went off, six fifteen in the morning was far too early for her to have to get up, all through her school years she had been a night person and having to adapt to the morning start of the working world remained a challenge for the brunette. She sat up and slapped the snooze button, Josh was still asleep but then that wasn't a surprise to Bonnie as it seemed like he'd keep right on sleeping if the world ended. He was lucky though she thought as she straggled her way to the shower, owning his own gallery let Josh be far more flexible in his hours than Bonnie's job as a lawyer.
The steaming hot water of the shower did wonders for Bonnie's temper, by the time she was dry and dressed the timer on the coffee machine had gone off and Bonnie started to feel more or less human. Sitting down at the kitchen table Bonnie sipped at her coffee while she thumbed through the files she had brought home last night, she had a meeting with several bureaucrats from the city department of education at lunch and if she wasn't completely on top of all the numbers those policy wonks would be all over her for it. Finally feeling like she was ready for the day Bonnie cruised back through the bathroom to put in her earrings and a quick breeze through the bedroom to check on Josh.
Sitting in the inevitable traffic jam on her way to work Bonnie took the opportunity to roll down her windows, pull out her PDA and go over her list of things to get done that day. Scrolling down the list Bonnie took a brief second to think how nice it was to be able to roll down her windows in traffic and not get a lungful of smog, the advent of hydrogen fuel cells a few years back and generous tax credits to transition from gasoline engines had cleared up a lot of urban smog. Looking back down at her list Bonnie decided that the only really important thing she had that day was her lunch meeting, other than that it should be a lazy day working on the grant applications for low income daycare.
Bonnie eventually made her way through the highway snarl and pulled into the parking lot of the office complex where her law firm was located. Well it wasn't her law firm, she was just a junior attorney, but she was smart and ambitious and Bonnie figured she'd make at least a junior partner in not too many years. Stopping by the break room Bonnie opted to fill her travel mug with tea rather than coffee since she could still feel the caffeine from her earlier cup. Walking to her office Bonnie put the backpack she kept all her files in down in one of the chairs in front of her desk, sitting down behind the desk she started up her computer and pulled the grant applications off the top of her inbox.
"Hey Bonnie," she looked up to see her co-worker Larry standing in the door.
"Hi Larry," she said, "what brings you to my little slice of paradise this early in the morning?"
"I heard a rumor," he said taking a sip out of his coffee mug, "the DOE is going to be sending Finchley out to your lunch meeting today, he's one of the most anal policy freaks I've ever met, and this is me talking."
"It shouldn't be too much of a problem," Bonnie leaned back in her chair, "I went over the numbers for our clients so much last night that I'm sure when I get home Josh is going to tell me I was muttering them in my sleep."
"Normally I'd say muttering things in your sleep is a bad thing," Larry laughed, "but in this case it might turn out to be a real life saver. Just thought I'd give you a little heads up that this might not be the cakewalk I knew you were hoping for."
"Yeah," Bonnie waved her hand absentmindedly as Larry started back towards his own office, "you know me though I'll still have them begging to give us twice the amount they're supposed to offer by the end of this thing."
Bonnie opened up her email as Larry's laughter echoed down the hall, there were a few new messages but none that needed urgent responses and her time would be better spent trying to finish up some details on the grant applications so she could present at least a finished draft at the meeting. Time went by surprisingly quickly and before Bonnie realized it the alarm she had set on her PDA went off causing her to jump. After slowing her heart down from the million beats a minute it was doing Bonnie glanced at her clock to confirm that it was indeed time for her to pack up and leave. Seeing the time Bonnie quickly finished off the sentence she was writing and packed everything in her backpack. She then walked down to the end of the hall to her bosses' office to let her know she was leaving.
"Rebecca," Bonnie knocked on the door and poked her head in, "I'm leaving for the meeting with the education people."
"Alright," her boss looked up at her, "cell phone if we need to get a hold of you?"
"Yep," Bonnie replied, "but this is a pretty important meeting so only if the world is ending, sky raining puppies minimum."
"Ok," Rebecca chuckled, "go take it to them."
Bonnie walked out of the office with a smile on her face and after putting her backpack on the passenger seat started her car and made the short drive to the café where she was meeting the people from the Education Department. Being October the outdoor seating of the café was of course closed but they had a lovely glass veranda that was fully heated. Pulling her car into a parking space Bonnie got out, grabbed her backpack and walked into the building. She had gotten there ahead of the DOE people and she asked the host to seat her in the glass veranda. She had only just gotten a glass of water for herself and started sipping when two men walked into the café, even though she didn't know either of them the way they carried themselves declared them to be the people she was meeting with. As the host started guiding the men over towards her table Bonnie stood up and stretched out her hand for them to shake, the smile on her face seemed perfectly pleasant but to anyone who knew her it was a very predatory smile indeed.
An hour later Bonnie walked out of the café, the smile on her face at the outset had become an outright smirk over the course of the meeting. In just over half the time the meeting had been scheduled to take Bonnie had managed to completely think circles around her bureaucratic counterparts. It wasn't quite the slaughter she had bragged to Larry about but it wasn't so far off the mark that they wouldn't have some good laughs about it later on. The afternoon rush hour hadn't started yet so Bonnie made good time back to the office; she walked in the door thinking she might even try to get off a bit early since the meeting had gone so well. She and Josh had been quite busy of late and hadn't had chances to see much of each other and it would be a nice surprise for him if Bonnie could get home from work early.
Bonnie took the stairs rather than the elevator up to the third floor suite where her firm had its offices. She stopped for a bit at the front desk to make sure no one had called or stopped in to see her, fortunately no one had and Bonnie started to really think she could pull off her get off work early scheme. A quick run through the break room to fill her travel mug with more tea and Bonnie walked down the hall to her office. She juggled her backpack and mug to have a free hand and leaned against her heavy oak door to put the key into the lock and let herself into her office. Surprisingly her weight caused the door to open and Bonnie stumbled into her office, the sight of what was in there made her backpack and mug drop from her hand right along with her jaw.
Josh and Rebecca were standing behind her desk, the way he was positioned behind her and how they were moving and moaning left absolutely no doubt in Bonnie's mind about what they were doing back there.
"You're back early," Rebecca had a sultry smile on her face.
"Yeah," Bonnie stuttered out, "but what the hell are you two doing?!"
Rebecca sighed and moaned at the same time, "what does it look like we're doing?"
"I can see what you're doing," Bonnie growled, "but that's my husband back there."
"And you have a problem with that?" Josh lazily drawled.
"Yes!" Bonnie screeched, "Didn't you make something called a wedding vow?"
"Yeah," Josh said in the same lazy tone, "but I'm a rich guy and one of the perks of that is a mistress."
Bonnie just stood there with her mouth open as the tea leaked out of her mug into the carpet and her husband and boss continued to screw each other's brains out on her desk like she wasn't even there, if anything they were going faster.
"I wanted to talk to you about something," Rebecca said in-between smacking up against Bonnie's desk, "I think your getting back from this meeting so early shows an obvious downturn in your job performance, and even though I've always tried to be casual with my subordinates I think you've crossed the line several times, not to mention that your husband is always hanging around this place showing a clear inability to separate your personal life from your professional. I've talked it over with the senior partners and the bottom line is you're fired, I'll expect you to clean out your desk by the close of business today."
"And I'm filing for divorce," Josh gasped as he lunged forward one last time. He and Rebecca stood tense against Bonnie's desk for several seconds before relaxing.
"Well what are you waiting for;" Rebecca said impatiently, "start cleaning out your desk."
"By the way," Josh said as he pulled up his pants and did his belt, "I had Rebecca help me file the divorce papers and I'm taking the house, the cars, the bank accounts, pretty much everything that's not your clothes. But since I'm in a good mood and I'd like you to be gone in a hurry I'll let you take one of my cars back to my house so you can get your stuff out."
Bonnie was completely still with shock as her soon to be ex-husband and boss walked out of her office, Rebecca reminding her to have her effects removed by the close of business. Only after they closed the door did she stagger forward to her desk and start to cry.
Driving home, well not home anymore, with tears streaking down her face Bonnie gave serious thought to driving the car off a cliff or into a wall at high speeds. Only for a moment though, as much as spiting Josh by wrecking the car appealed to her dying in the process would be giving up, and if there was one thing Bonnie Rockwaller would never do no matter what it was give up.
Once she got back to the house Bonnie hurriedly packed everything into her two suitcases and her purse. The divorce papers were lying on the bed and as much as Bonnie wanted to tear them up and drag that bastard Josh through court she knew it would be useless at best, more likely it would turn out a disaster for her. Bonnie may have been a lawyer but a litigator she was not, and Rebecca was one of the best in the city, if the divorce went to court Bonnie would be lucky to leave with the clothes on her back. So she decided to just take as much as she could and claim it as 'her stuff,' she had stopped at the bank yesterday so she had cash on hand to pay for a hotel for several days.
As she walked out of the place she had called home for the past several years the sun was low in the western sky and the first few stars had just started to dot the sky. Having to stay in a hotel for a few days didn't really bother Bonnie that much, she traveled enough that she was well used to it. Plus she knew she was a smart young woman and finding new employment shouldn't be too difficult for her. What really got Bonnie down was that she was going to have to call her parents and ask for their help. Finding a new job wouldn't take too long but it would take longer than she was confident her cash would hold out, and that would mean moving back in with her parents for at least several weeks, most likely till she got a new job and the first paycheck came in.
Feeling down as she was Bonnie lowered her head to stare at the sidewalk as she trudged along. So involved was she with dreading the phone call she would have to make in the morning that she completely lost track of what was in front of her. So it came as a complete surprise when she hit something and landed hard on her backside. Lifting her head she saw a pair of feet and knew she had hit someone rather than something, profusely apologizing Bonnie started grabbing things off the ground and shoving them into her purse. The mystery man, she though the hands were a mans also started grabbing her things and handing them to her, finally with everything picked up Bonnie looked up to get a look at the face of the man she had walked into but all words fled her when she saw who she had walked into.
"Bonnie?" Ron stammered, "Bonnie Rockwaller?"
"Ron?" Bonnie stammered at the same time, "Ron Stoppable?"
The two stood up and brushed themselves off, Bonnie was the first to consider herself done and so was the next so speak, "What are you doing walking out here this late at night?"
"Smarty Mart, I needed to pick up some baby stuff," Ron said as he noticed Bonnie's suitcases and the tear tracks down her face, "and what's got you out here with suitcases and tears rolling down your cheeks?"
"Nothing," Bonnie sighed as she remembered the newspapers of a month ago lamenting the passing of world renowned hero Kim Possible, "I know it's probably way too late and you've gotten more of these than you know what to do with but for what it's worth I'm sorry about Kim."
"It's actually worth more than you'd think," Ron's voice softened, "I got so many condolences from so many people who never really knew Kim that getting one from someone who really knew us means a lot. Now Bonnie why don't you tell me why you're out here crying and looking like you're about to go on a trip."
"It's nothing," Bonnie said, "at least nothing compared to what you must have to deal with."
"Why don't you let me be the judge of that," Ron stepped in, "at least tell me what happened you look like you need to tell someone."
"Alright," Bonnie sighed, "long story short I got divorced and lost my job today, I'm going to stay at a hotel tonight and I'll call my parents tomorrow."
"Well you've got me long beat for the most going wrong," Ron had a wry smile on his face, "at least I got Samantha out of losing Kim, you had nothing good happen to you. And I've got your hotel solved, I've got a perfectly good guest room back at my house, you can stay there until you get another job and find a new place to stay."
"I couldn't," Bonnie raised her hands in protest, "I mean so soon after Kim died I'd just feel horrible imposing on you like that."
"Nonsense," Ron picked up her bags and started walking back towards his house, "Kim would have told you the exact same thing and I'm sure that if I don't do this she'll come back and haunt me until I die."
Bonnie grumbled out a few more protests but Ron ignored them and after a few minutes she followed him in silence. About twenty minutes later they entered a rather upscale subdivision of townhouses and Ron motioned for her to catch up to him.
"We need to make one stop before my house," he said as she slowed beside him, "I left Samantha with a neighbor and we'll need to pick her up."
A few minutes later they walked up to a townhouse, Ron started trying to press the doorbell but with all of Bonnie's luggage he wasn't having much luck.
"Let me," Bonnie walked up and pushed the button to the side of the door.
A few seconds passed and the door opened to show an elderly woman Bonnie guessed to be in her mid to late eighties.
She looked at Bonnie and then over at Ron before speaking, "Well hello there Ron, and who is this charming young lady you've brought home with you?"
Bonnie blushed slightly at the old woman's remarks but Ron seemed to take it in stride, "Her name is Bonnie, she's an old friend and she needs a place to stay for awhile. We ran into each other up the street, literally, and she'll be using the guest room at my house for awhile."
"That's so sweet of you Ron," the old lady said, but before she could go on a wailing that Bonnie was sure was Ron's daughter Samantha echoed from the house.
"I'll get that," Bonnie said as she stepped into the townhouse, a crib was set up in the living room and Bonnie walked over to it. Looking down she saw a little blonde haired green eyed girl barely a month old. Samantha's eyes focused on the brunette and a smile widened her face as she stopped crying. Picking her up carefully Bonnie guessed that she had just wanted some attention. Walking back out Bonnie looked up from Samantha to see the old lady smiling at her and even Ron's look of surprise was a very pleased one.
"She seems to like you," the old lady laughed kindly, then pointing at Ron and Bonnie, "you two take care of each other now, lost souls like yourselves need someone to make the journey of life with."
"Sure," Ron said, "anyways thanks for watching Samantha, I owe you Mrs. Henderson."
"Any time Ron," the old lady, rather Mrs. Henderson turned and waved over her shoulder, "now I'm going to go make myself some dinner, take care you two."
The door closed and Ron and Bonnie were left standing on the front step, they walked down and to the next townhouse over, Ron put down Bonnie's suitcases to reach into his pocket and pull out a key, after unlocking the door he turned to her and said, "ready to go home Bonnie?"
Bonnie looked down at Samantha who had fallen asleep again in her arms and then up at Ron and said, "Sure."
AN: Yay, new story! I decided to work for my 'T' rating this time, I think parts of this chapter might push it a little but I'm standing by my decision. And I must admit I'm actually terribly proud of this chapter, I typically can remain pretty detached from writing my characters suffering but even I felt a bit choked up when I had to write Kim dying and Bonnie walking into that office. And who else is excited for a new season of Kim Possible? I know I am. I just don't know how I'll write with all that excitement, I mean I've got this story, then SuperRonII, and then my ideas for a sequel to Shocked have finally gotten some traction in my head so I'll probably tackle that before too long. Basically I'm gonna be a busy little writer for a long time to come, I just hope you all are willing to keep putting up with me, ciao till next chapter.
