Award ceremonies. Kim so hated those.
She understood why they existed, of course, some of her father and mother's intelligence had rubbed in on her, and even at the young age of 5 she was showing signs of precocious intelligence.
That didn't mean however that she was glad for the chance to come and see all this people getting shiny metal trinkets. Because really that was what they were, to her, just pointy metal bits that shone under the lights. Of course she was glad her dad had gained one, for building a rocket that took things to space That was a thing she had a dream of someday doing, going to space, not build rockets, that was. Too much math involved in that, and while she was smart, she knew how to add and how to subtract, and knew how to count to 100, that math was simply way too advanced. At least sometimes his dad would take her to see the rockets and prototypes he had built, and how cool was that? It had been an honor (not the first one) for his father to win this prize, he was glad to receive, and there was no doubt it would be one of many that would adorn his shelf, with more to come, she was sure.
But if there were so many of them, so many in the shape of rockets, stars, planets, rings, made of golden metal plaque, silver, iron, glass, why dress up for all of that in particular? It wasn't the first one of this "Ceremonies" she attended, accompanied by her mother and father, and she was getting tired.
She observed the room around her, wincing at the lights, they reflected her dress, which had some small sparkles, but they were far too impractical, plus they must have been eating a ton of energy just to bring light!
Kim liked the dress, impractical as it may have been for the usual running around she did with her buddy Ron. It was stylish, it was pink, it was, in her own words, "Pretty", but even that was starting to grate on her. A funny word that was, she repeated it in her head, like the cheese grater from the cheese she liked on top of her food? It was…boring in there, so boring she was thinking about words and how funny they sounded, that was pretty dumb.
As she was bored she stifled a yawn, as with previously she focused on the things that were more bright, and which gathered the most attention, the lights. The lights were all on, filling the whole room with a yellowish tint, and while she wasn't staring directly at it. - Having learned before how much that'd hurt. - She still felt the heat of the intense lamps. She felt sorry for her mum, who was there to attend her husband's celebration, she had put makeup. Kim didn't look, because she was engaged in boring, topical talk, but she could half imagine her mum's makeup, waxy by design, melting, leaving her a mess.
She compared the lights that were on top to the only other lights she had seen before that were so big. The ones in stadiums. She wasn't in a stadium, she was in a school gymnasium. What better way to show people how much the local educational system cared about science and learning than to host the award show there? The people in charge of the school, the principals and the like were pretty smart.
Still though, Kim didn't know that, she only knew she was in a big kid's school, a high school they had called it? Middleton high if she recalled correctly. She knew that the lights must have been making a tool, if not on her mother's makeup, which she had insisted Kim was too young to wear, as a little girl, something she hated so much, since she could do anything, then at least on her person. Or wasn't she wearing that jacket?
She was partially right, while the makeup wasn't melted. Her mum being aware of the conditions she would be put in, and being savvy enough to put the more expensive makeup, the one that didn't melt in the heat, she wasn't having such luck with the dress.
The ceremony was at winter. Winter was coming hard to the town, sometimes even snowing, and while it wasn't snowing it wasn't warm by any meaning of the word. So she had to go and she had had to put on a jacket. A classy one, one that covered her shoulders and went down her figure until more or less her midriff, which wasn't being shown, covered by her dress. So the dressing accessory was not particularly big, but it was warm enough to shelter her from the unforgiving cold, covering the tear shaped opening on the tissue on her back.
.So she had brought the jacket alongside herself, her husband, and their adorable daughter (who seemed none too enthusiastic about going, but which couldn't stay home alone), appreciating the heat the article of clothing provided to her. She had expected it to be put on a coat hanger when she arrived.
Gymnasiums don't have hangers however, there were locker rooms, yes, both for the male and female student, but most of it were lockers, which were locked. And Anne, a medical professional, knew better than to trust her expensive, mostly new, jacket, to the care of the no doubt countless germs the locker room had. Teenage germs at that.
She was glad her daughter was still young enough she didn't have to worry too much about that kind of thing. Teenagehood brought alongside it several problems that she wasn't ready to face, maybe in another 8 or 9 years, she had to face them eventually, but not now,
She clapped mildly, her mind on another spot as she saw person after person get their award, her husband, James Possible was one of the last prizes to get itself received. So she waited, occasionally chatting with people about topics, and that "Crazy weather", laughing at bad jokes, the dos of being polite.
Finally she realised it was her husband's turn to receive his award, she ignored the heat and the discomfort she was feeling, she looked at Kim, who was deadly quiet, smiling also, despite the way she felt about this ceremonies (something her mother knew about very well, or weren't her protests very vocal?)
James looked handsome in his outfit, which was due in large part to the fact that it had been her wife, Anne to choose it (with some contributions of her young daughter), James had no sense of fashion whatsoever.
He smiled, a smile of a boy who still hadn't lost his wonder and charm at rockets, which he was now celebrating by creating, and he looked straight ahead as he climbed upon the makeshift stage.
The stage had been hastily build, as the school literally jumped at the chance to host this event, but that didn't mean it was badly built. It was surprisingly sturdy, James realised that as she stepped onto it. He was glad it was. He didn't want to fall and make a fool out of himself in front of all his peers.
"And now Dr James Possible" - The man who was hosting the awards, dressed in a brown suit that suited his brown hair, and whose name was Barkin said.
"For his invention of the…." - He read the words and his eyes widened as he tried to pronounce the words. - "Propulsion engines of…" - He eventually gave up on the pronunciation of the heavy tech word and he just concluded with. - "His engine."
People laughed, at his inability to say the hard to speak words and his eyes hardened. Kim gulped he had the feeling that she wouldn't want to cross the man. If he was still working at the big boy's school when she arrived at that point.
James laughed the whole situation off, he was in a good mood, earning another award at the precoce age of 29 does that to a person.
"Thank you Mr Barkin." - He ignored the hateful look the other man sent his way, even if he was taller than him. - "I'm very grateful to you and your school for hosting this event…" - He continued, his eyes closed in on the face of his loved daughter and her mother, and he smiled, they always helped him relax, even if he didn't need it right now. - "And I'm thankful to a lot of people for their help…" -. He went on to list a bunch of people, most of which had Doctor before their names… - "But, most of all, and after the inevitable mention of my daughter Kimmy, and my wife, I must mention my friend, Dr Drew, whose advancements on artificial intelligence made all of this possible."
Dr Drew smiled weakly as people clapped for him, he always liked the attention, but coming for his help to his friend (Dr) James? He'd have done it again in a heartbeat.
Kim, who was mortally embarrassed by her dad's use of the Kimmy nickname, listened to this and smiled for her uncle. Her uncle Drew who was always there for her, and which was amazing.
She dropped whatever pretense of fanciness she had and she ran to him. She couldn't reach much more than his waist, certainly not the carefully groomed blue overcoat he was wearing, or the blue tie (Drew liked blue), but it was enough, she spread her arms around him as he ruffled up her hair, which she had been forced to brush.
"I like you a lot uncle D!"
The good doctor smiled, as he ruffled her hair even further.
"I like you a lot too, little Kim."
:
:
:
Kim was 8 and she couldn't sleep. Unlike the fancy outfits she had been forced to wear in the award ceremonies, she was now in her nighty pajamas, which had Mickey Mouse, the Disney character on them, or at least an outline of his head. She rubbed her eyes as she moved forwards in the house.
It was a new house they had bought recently, as a neurosurgeon and an expert on rockets, her parents weren't struggling for money. Though obviously expensive and large the house had the home feeling to it, even more so after she had brought upon it the large variety of toys she had. She couldn't play with them now though, it was dark, and she just wanted that cup of water.
Her mouth was dry, her throat even more so, and she could swear she heard voices coming from the kitchen. That was odd, her mum and dad should have been asleep already, why were there voices coming from it?
She stopped as she saw the light was on,. though she was still upstairs, some of the light surreptitiously went away from the closed door and revealed itself to Kim. Kimmy, as she was known by her father, slowly moved, making sure not to let the wooden boards below her small feet creak.
She moved one step downwards, still there wasn't a sound except the muffled voices from the kitchen, and the words were becoming clearer, as well as the voices...but those couldn't exactly be real could they?
She rubbed her eyes again, moving her hands upwards, as if that could make the situation clearer, she couldn't see very well, but she could hear even worse, she had to, otherwise this wouldn't make sense, or were they…
They were definitively fighting, or at least that was what it sounded like, the voices of his dad and his best friend Drew. Uncle D's voice was tense, as much as when he was being pressured over a deadline, something which had happened a lot when he was finishing one of his crazy science projects, but still took time for Kim. She liked when he did that, even if he lost a bit of time, time he needed, she was more important to him, and made her feel special.
His voice was low and filled with dread as Kim steppéd closer, she couldn't make the shapes, the door was closed after all, but she could feel herself growing weary as she approached it. If dad and uncle D were fighting…she couldn't even imagine why they would do that.
Uncle D had shown her dad his pet project, robotic women, with artificial intelligence like in science fiction stories, her dad had been excited at the possibilities, even if, as he had put it "It needed some major reparations", they had eventually put the technology on the pet project he was nursing, a system of propulsion that would be entirely self guided.
They had equally shared the success, his dad had thanked him numerous times, and he had split the prize money with him and everything, it was her father's name on the awards, but her uncle, Drew, had always said he didn't care for prizes.
Even if that wasn't exactly true, in Kim's view.
So why were they fighting?
She put her ear to the door and was careful to breathe slow, methodic breathes, so she wouldn't be heard.
"Jesus, James, I didn't know!" - It was her uncle, that was speaking, his voice was full of regret, and she realised he must have been under a lot of pressure.
He didn't know what? What had happened? She pressed further against the door, careful not to block the light and cause shadows on the inside, so that she wasn't found.
"...I know, but you goofed it up." - If James, her father, had been screaming before, now he was just talking with several disappointment in his voice. It was the tone that Kim heard it being directed at her, when she and Ron, her buddy, had done something bad, something stupid, something dumb...something…
Kim's eyes got bigger than saucers. Of course! That was it! Some Kind of freaky experience her dad and uncle D had gone wrong! And it was apparently her uncle's fault.
How could that be? Her uncle was a genius! Her dad was a genius! They should have corrected each other's mistakes! Really it should have been like that, it wasn't like them to miss a spot, an error...and they worked with rockets. Something bad might have happened.
Images came to mind of uncle D horribly burned. She knew her dad wasn't burned, he had come home, stressed, but well, and he had kissed her goodnight and told her a story. Now he was discussing things.
She launched herself into the room faster than her mind could process, tears already forming into her eyes, she wanted to kiss her uncle a get well kiss, if her uncle was bad then she would do anything to help him…
She found them well, they were close, and words had flown and hurt one another, but physically they were fine. Kim blinked away the tears as she tried to explain why she had come rushing in and barging into a conversation, like it was her business.
Because really it wasn't.
"I was coming for water and I heard voices and I thought you were horribly burned because dad said you goofed it up!"
Her throat was even dryer than before, she realised, and she still wanted that cup of water, but that could wait, could it not? She had to make sure her uncle D was all right.
Uncle Drew skin looked blueish on the lights, even though the light around him was yellow and white, and she wondered about that. But if that was the extent of his injuries then all could be fine. She'd love her uncle no matter if he was a smurf or not.
Dr Drew, her uncle Drew, moved her hand into his. He held there as she looked at his blueish skin.
He smiled, she smiled back. He ruffled her hair in that manner that was familiar to her, it was like a sign a "Don't worry everything's going to be ok".
She pushed her hand harder, proving she understood. James looked at the two, feeling regret for what he had to do. He wished he didn't have to do this, particularly when Drew was his best friend.
He had no choice, however, after the problem had been identified, he had no choice but to report it. It was for the best, and million dollar mistakes weren't solved with an apology.
He sighed.
"Drew…" - He didn't want to say it, not in front of Kimmy. Not in front of anyone, Drew deserved the most respect he could get, deadly error or not.
He nodded. He didn't want to break down in front of Kim.
"I understand…" - He really did, he was going to have to resign. There was no choice.
Kim didn't understand what was going on, he wasn't like his father or uncle Drew, who had brains as big as they came. She was just a little girl.
She suddenly became aware of just how little she could do to prevent anything. If her father and uncle Drew had goofed it up….well what could she do about it?
Little tears began to form and she could only look at the two people in the room. It wasn't fair...it wasn't! Drew held her hand, reassuringly, his hands were warm, and bigger than her little 8 year old hands, and she could feel them, grabbing her, assuring her everything was going to be fine.
She knew better however, the people weren't very eager to accept apologies and why would they be screaming at one another if not for that mistake? She didn't want to accept the idea but she knew she couldn't change it.
She remembered this saying, or maybe it was a prayer, she didn't like church very much, but this applied here, she couldn't help but see that, she had the wisdom to see the difference, but she had not the serenity to accept what she couldn't change.
Because it just wasn't fair. She might have been a little girl, one unable to do anything about it, but she knew the truth, it wasnt fair, and she refused to accept it as such.
James looked at his daughter, grief in his eyes...while things had been good with Drew, they had become closer to her, and to him as well...he was like an younger brother he had never had.
So now he didn't know what to say, except…
"Kim…"
She held herself tighter against Drew. She didn't want to let go, she felt that as soon as she let go, he would disappear of her life forever.
"Kim…"
For she knew that that was hot things went...after such a mistake he would be there again...she knew the Doctor, he wasn't going to forgive himself, he'd blame himself, and his failed attempt at getting the recognition he craved.
Seeing that that wouldn't work, James called instead to his former work mate.
"Drew…"
Drew let go, slowly, taking in the touch of the little girl, something she wouldn't feel for a long time and making his best not to let little Kim cry.
"It'll be alright." - He told her, though he wasn't so sure of that himself.
They both knew it not to be true, but, sometimes, small white lies must be told.
It wasn't until she had nearly fallen asleep she realised she hadn't drunk her glass of water.
:
Kimberly Anne Possible, now aged 18 smiled.
She had grown a lot, puberty having been kind to her. Her hips had widened, and that wasn't the only thing to widen...she had caught his fair share of boys looking at her. Despite that she kept her athletic frame, which was helped by the way she did cheers at her high school.
She had gotten it on with Ron a couple of times...nothing serious, her buddy was a fun boy, and she loved his laughter, but they hadn't done much more than a couple of snogging session, and one or two feels up their bums.
Really it had been nothing major, in fact she was still a pure young lady, which hadn't done anything of the sort of things she was expected to do. Even then this was still exciting...she wasn't attending it for the boys, no she was attending it for another reason entirely.
College. Where the bright came to learn. All the knowledge that had been gathered over centuries and millenniums ready to be learned. Teached by even brighter minds.
She wet her lips at the thought. She'd like that.
Ever since her father had taken to teaching her about technology, she was fascinated by that. Sure it took a lot of math, but that was with all things, math was the building blocks of the universe after all.
So she had come to this university...kind in the middle of nowhere as it had turned out, but also renowned for its technology department. It boasted that it had several doctors who had worked in the most prestigious of science centers across the country, and Kim's informations seemed to concur with that information,
It was also kind of why she had come to this university in particular...after all the man she was looking for had worked on a pretty prestigious space center before his career had been blown to smithereens. And if he wanted a job, what else would he do but that in which he was doctored in?
So as she approached the building for her first class the feeling of anxiety was getting over to her, even if she was Kimberly Possible and she could do anything. The fact was that if the teacher turned out to be not the man who she was looking for...Dr Drew, then she would have come to this university for nothing.
It should have been relatively easy for her to figure out who the professor of the university in this area was. But she hadn't wanted to...she figured, even if it wasn't Drew, this was her best option in terms of universities. And really what was there to lose but the sense of happiness on rekindling with an old friend? What was there to gain but the disappointment of having lost hope?
Regardless of what happened Kim thought that things would go swimmingly for her. She had graduated with top grades. - Not a tough feat to do when your parents are helping you and they're both geniuses. - And she had applied to the university she most wanted. Or she hoped she most wanted, the reasoning was clear.
So as she walked the steps further and further she couldn't help but have this nervous smile on her face. If it turned out that it was teaching the lesson, then her hopes wouldn't be dashed and her desires would be accepted in that roulette wheel that was life. She could win, or she could lose.
She hoped to win, it was after all her biggest dream to get alongside the other person, as the years passed she had romanticized the figure. She knew him to be one very important friend to the family, until that darn accident.
He had always been kind to her, and he had always had time for her, something most adults didn't had or didn't find the time to do. She missed him dearly.
So as she entered and saw the blueish tone of his skin she let out a girlish scream, one that embarrassed her in front of all her would be college mates.
She didn't care however this was college, this was university, this was where you discovered yourself, and didn't care what others thought. This was where she was planning to discover if Doctor Lipsky, or Doctor Drew, was all that her dreams and hopes for him, had turned out to be.
Dreams rarely lived up to expectatives, she remembered when she had wanted a pony only to find out how dirty and messy those animals were, not really like the ones in her books, but she really, really, really hoped this one lived up to it.
The good Doctor introduced himself to her, as well as the rest of the class, and she was aware that her eyes fell on her several times. Unlike other men however, whose eyes fell onto her breast line, his eyes fell to his eyes, and hair, and he smiled.
She smiled back as she heard the first lines in theories that her dad had long taught her. It was only an introductory class after all.
Even if she was expecting this, she wasn't quite expecting the impact he would have on her, which was a lot, sort of like the one only gravity could rival.
Drew looked handsome, in the way that 40 somethings look handsome, there was an air to him, an air of maturity, and while he didn't have the pale and cheekbones of youths past, he did have a defined look onto him.
He wore a blue lab coat, and he was explaining things to them. Though why he still wore a lab coat when most of his work was theoretical she didn't know.
She couldn't concentrate on the lesson, not that that would be any sort of problem to her, as she looked at the man who now spoke about technology. Had he always been so passionate? So defined? So...beautiful?
When they got out she got up to him and invited him up for coffee.
Drew was hesitant, he clearly had guidelines to follow, but his eyes fell on the girl and he couldn't bring himself to say no. He knew the girl, after all, what was the worse that could happen? She had been always so innocent…
The Doctor failed to account for the years of growth that had happened while he was away...after all an 8 year old doesn't quite have the same life goals as an 18 year old, and, as they,. and their bodies met, he wondered.
"How did it come to this"
The end.