Disclaimer: You know the drill. KP and crew belong to Disney, not me.
Thanks once again to Slipgate for beta help!
Chapter One: Home Again
Ron leaned against the trunk of the giant oak tree in his parents' backyard, watching idly as his little sister Hana sparred with Jim and Tim Possible and Wade Load. Naturally, the four-year-old was giving the three teenagers a thorough beating. Ron grinned, crossing his arms behind his head and enjoying the feel of the August sun shining on his face.
For Ron, this summer had been mostly dismal. But today he was actually feeling pretty good about life—in no small part because tomorrow Kim was coming home.
Earlier in the year, Kim had been offered the opportunity to spend the summer studying at the University of Oslo in Norway. At the time, Ron had enthusiastically encouraged her to take it, though he had neither the grades nor the funds to go along. There was a small part of him that still felt guilty for keeping her from studying overseas full time as she had originally planned to do. Though Go City University was a good school, and Kim often reassured him that after the Lorwardian sitch she didn't want to put thousands of miles between herself and everyone she loved again, he still worried that she was missing out on something because of him, and this had seemed like a small way to give it back to her.
It had turned out to be more of a sacrifice than he anticipated. The last two months were the longest time he and Kim had ever spent apart; even the waking nightmare of Wannaweep had only been six weeks. And despite a lack of monkey mascots, rabid squirrels or poison ivy, somehow this summer had felt even more torturous than that one long ago. Ron grinned a little, wondering if Kim would think it was weirdly romantic if he told her that a summer without KP kisses was worse than a summer with Gil—or even Gill.
But, at least tomorrow it would all be over—which meant that today was dragging by even more slowly than the rest of the summer had, of course, but let it. Nothing could get Ron Stoppable down today. He had too many happy plans running through his head. Tomorrow morning he would go to the airport with the Doctors Possible to pick Kim up. And tomorrow night... His hand drifted unconsciously down toward his right hip, before he remembered that his gi didn't have pockets and that he'd left the item he'd been reaching for upstairs on his nightstand, with Rufus napping nearby.
"Ron!" Wade's sudden cry snapped him out of his daydream. "A little help here, please?"
Ron looked up to see that Hana's teenage opponents had been successfully subdued. Quite successfully. The four-year-old had all three of them lying prone on the ground, each with an arm stretched awkwardly behind his back to keep him pinned in place. Any little attempted movement caused them to wince and cry out in pain.
Doing his best not to laugh, Ron pushed away from the tree trunk and stood up straight. "Okay, Hana, you can let them go now." He winked at her and mouthed, "Show-off."
His little sister giggled and obediently released the three boys' arms, eliciting a trio of relieved groans from the teens. Ron raised an eyebrow at her and she straightened up, her merriment immediately giving way to seriousness, as if a switch had been flicked. Satisfied, Ron bowed, and Hana mirrored the gesture, her gaze never breaking from his.
Now released from the protocols of their art, brother and sister shared a grin. "Booyah!" Ron exclaimed as Hana skipped happily over to him. "Nice job little sis! Gimme five." He held up his hand, palm out, and she slapped it as hard as she could—which was hard enough to knock Ron off of his feet. He was laughing even as his backside hit the ground.
"Someone's in a good mood today," Jim grumbled, as he and Tim helped pull each other to their feet.
"That's because he's not getting beat up by Hana," Tim said, brushing grass off of his gi.
Ron stood back up. "You guys do realize that you're whining about having to fight against a little girl, right?"
"Yeah," Wade said, "a little girl with super ninja powers."
"Details." Ron waved a hand dismissively, still grinning. "Anyway, you guys are the ones who wanted me to get you in shape so Kim would let you start going on the big missions. No better way to prove to her that you can handle super-villains than showing that you can handle a four-year-old super ninja."
Jim stretched, groaning. "If that's the case, I'm starting to rethink the importance of impressing Kim."
"Yeah," Tim said. "Why don't we just get Wade to send us the big missions without even going through her. What Kim doesn't know..."
"Woah," Wade said, waving his hands. "Sorry, guys, but I don't cross Kim."
"Aw, come on, Wade!"
"Yeah, whose side are you on, anyway?"
"Um, my own?" he said. "I'd like to live to see adulthood."
"Fine," the twins said in unison, crossing their arms and sighing.
"But I think we've had enough 'training' for one day," Jim said.
"Yeah," said Tim. "How about you show us what you can do, Monkey Master."
"Yeah, come on, Ron! Give us a little demonstration," Jim urged. He ran behind the oak tree and reappeared dragging a heavy cinder block that he and his brother had stashed there for just such an occasion.
"Nuh uh," Ron said, shaking his head. "My monkey powers aren't for playing around with—you guys know that."
"Aww, please," Tim whined.
"Come on, Ron, we're not asking you to 'play around' with your powers," Jim said.
"Yeah, we just wanna see what you can do. It's important. Right, Wade?"
They all turned to face the young genius. This time the acknowledged voice of reason in the group took the Tweebs' side. "I could always use some more readings to get a better idea of what you can do and how," he said, pulling his own specialized Kimmunicator device out of his pocket.
"You're never gonna figure out the 'how,' Wade," Ron chided. "What part of Mystical Monkey Power don't you understand?"
"Every part," Wade said. "Which is why I'm going to keep studying it until I do. There's always a scientific explanation, Ron. We just haven't found it yet."
"And what would you do if you did find it?" Ron challenged.
"Dunno," Wade said with another shrug. "But you know what they say: Knowledge is power."
"Well, good," Ron answered. "If you've got knowledge power, then you don't need to see any monkey power."
"Awww," the twins groaned.
Then Ron felt a tug at the hem of his gi. He looked down to see Hana standing there. "Pretty please, Brother?" she said, sticking out her bottom lip and staring up at him with wide pleading eyes. Ron cringed and made a mental note to thank Kim for teaching his sister that particular little strategy.
"Yeah." The three teenage boys echoed her high-pitched voice. "Pretty please?"
"Okay, okay, cut it out!" Ron finally cried, holding up his hands in surrender. "I'll do it. Just holster your weapon," he said, pointing at Hana, whose puppy dog pout instantly transformed into a triumphant grin.
The twins let out whoops of joy, and even Wade did a fist pump, which certainly cast his assertion that his interest in seeing a display of Ron's powers was purely scientific into serious doubt. Jim and Tim each took one end of the heavy brick and carried it over to the center of the yard.
Ron walked slowly over and stood in front of it, his face settling into a serious, almost expressionless cast. The others followed his example almost unconsciously, growing silent and solemn as they gathered around him in a loose circle.
Ron steepled his hands and lowered his head, breathing deeply and evenly. After a few seconds of complete silence, a blue glow began to appear in the air around him. At first it was so faint that from one moment to the next, those watching could almost convince themselves that it wasn't really there, that it was simply a trick of the mid-afternoon light. But gradually, imperceptibly, the blue light grew in intensity until it was an unmistakable aura surrounding and emanating from Ron's entire body.
His eyes snapped open and everyone gasped. They had all seen this display many times by now, but somehow it always still caught them by surprise. With his whole body glowing blue and hair waving wildly in a wind that arose from nowhere, it was still the otherworldly light shining from those eyes that was the most surprising—the most un-Ron-like—thing about the Ultimate Monkey Master.
Ron bent down into a monkey-like crouch, then sprang straight up into the air, hovering there for just a few seconds longer than should have been physically possible. He came back down to earth with an explosive force that shook the entire yard, hammering his fist down into the top of the brick in the same motion. The brick instantly split down the middle, falling apart into two neat halves.
A second later, those two halves crumbled into two neat piles of light gray dust.
And that was all it took to finally break the silence of his spectators.
"Hicka bicka boo!" Tim shouted.
"Hoosha!" Jim responded, high-fiving him.
"Fascinating," Wade said, studying the readouts on the screen of his Kimmunicator.
"Yay!" Hana cried, clapping her hands.
"I never get tired of seeing that."
At the sound of that fifth familiar voice, Ron spun around and gaped at the redhead now standing just inside the gate to his backyard. Almost before his mind had time to process what was going on, his feet took matters into their own hands... er, feet... and carried him across the yard to his girlfriend.
"KP!" he shouted happily, sweeping her up off the ground and twirling her around in a full circle, and then kissing her soundly.
When their lips finally parted—and Ron finally set Kim's feet back down on the ground—she stared up at him, flushed but grinning. "Hmm, never get tired of that either."
"KP, what are you doing here? I mean, not that I'm not excited to see you—of course I'm excited to see you," he babbled, "but I thought your flight wasn't until tomorrow."
"It was," Kim said, "but I managed to catch an earlier flight." She pointed upward, and Ron followed the gesture just in time to see a GJ jet hovering over his house. A second later, its engines fired and it rocketed off into the distance.
"Aw man," Tim said as he walked toward the couple. "And you couldn't have asked the pilot to stick around for a little while—?"
"—And give your brothers a little joy ride?" Jim continued for him.
"Or a flying lesson."
"Hoosha!"
Kim rolled her eyes affectionately. "Good to see you guys, too," she said, opening her arms wide.
"Yeah, yeah," Jim said, obediently stepping into his sister's hug.
"Welcome home, Sis," Tim said, allowing himself to be subjected to her affections as well.
After giving them both a squeeze, Kim stepped back and looked them up and down. "You guys must have grown a foot over the summer. You're taller than me now!"
"Get used to it—"
"—little sister."
"You wish, Tweebs."
"Hey Kim," another voice spoke up above the sibling banter. "Great to have you back."
As she looked past her brothers to the source of the voice, Kim couldn't keep her jaw from dropping. Apparently the Tweebs weren't the only ones who'd experienced a growth spurt while she was gone. In fact, Wade even had a few inches on her brothers now. And while he hadn't quite lost all of his "baby fat" —and Kim suspected he probably never would—Ron's training seemed to have added quite a bit of muscle to balance out his bulk.
Before Kim could get over her surprise, Wade had stepped forward and engulfed her in a bear hug. "Oof! It's great to see you too, Wade," she said, hugging him back. "Lookin' good."
She thought she actually saw him blush as he let her go. "Thanks. Guess I finally had that growth spurt my mom's been promising all these years."
"I had a growth spurt, too, Kimmie!" a much higher-pitched voice, from a much lower elevation, exclaimed.
Kim laughed as she reached down to pick Hana up. "Ooh, I can see that, Han! I almost didn't recognize you," she said, balancing the little girl on one hip and using her now-free hand to tickle her tummy. Hana giggled and squirmed out of her grasp.
"I'm this many now!" Hana proclaimed proudly, holding up four little fingers as Kim set her back down on the ground.
"I know!" Kim said with the proper amount of excitement. "Did you get the card I sent you from Norway?"
Hana nodded and Ron laughed. "She wouldn't put it down all day when it came in the mail. I think she's still making Mom read it to her every night before bed."
Kim grinned. "I'm glad you liked it so much, Hana." She turned back to Ron. "Is class time over?"
"It can be," Ron said, then turned towards Jim, Tim and Wade with a sly grin. "Unless the guys want to demonstrate what they've learned while you were gone—with a little help from Hana...?"
"No, no," Tim said hurriedly. "That's okay—it can wait."
"Yeah," Jim said. "You two should really take this time to catch up."
Ron and Kim shared an amused glance. "Whatever you say, guys," Ron said, before leaning over for another kiss from his girlfriend. He sighed as their lips parted. "But I should probably shower first."
"Good idea," Kim said, with a twinkle in her eye.
"Yeah, I—hey! What's that supposed to mean?" He pouted at her.
Kim raised an eyebrow at him. "Do you really want me to answer that?" When his pout only deepened, she leaned toward him again and whispered in his ear, "It means I'd love to have a nice, clean, fresh-smelling Ron to cuddle with."
The pout transformed into a grin. "Got it, KP. One freshly-showered Ron coming right up."
"Good," she said, smiling back at him. "See you back at my house in ten."
Kim opened the Possibles' front door and greeted Ron with another quick peck on the lips. Ron wondered quite seriously how he had lasted ten minutes without kissing her, let alone two months.
Rufus popped up out of his owner's left pant pocket with an excited squeak, leaped over to Kim's shirt, and clambered up onto her shoulder. He wrapped himself around her neck and nuzzled her jaw, chittering happily.
Kim giggled and reached up to pat his head. "I missed you, too, Rufus," she said. Then she surprised both Rufus and Ron by turning her head and kissing the little mole rat on the cheek. Ron laughed; he'd never known that naked mole rats could blush.
"Come on in, Ron," Kim said, grabbing his hand. "I was just handing out some gifts."
As Kim pulled him into the living room, Ron saw the rest of her family there. The Doctors Possible were admiring a large wooden platter hand-painted with colorful ornate flowers and the words "The Possibles" written across its outer rim in flowing script. The Tweebs were just ripping the last of the paper off of their own souvenirs.
"Hey, cool," Tim said, holding up the unwrapped box for everyone else to see. "A Viking ship model kit."
Kim nodded as she took a seat on the couch and pulled Ron down beside her. "They're from the Viking Museum on campus. I know they're not very high-tech, but I thought you guys might like them anyway."
"Yeah, they're neat. Thanks, Sis," Jim said, examining his own model with a speculative eye. "And I bet we could find a way to make them high-tech if we wanted to, too."
Kim laughed. "Yeah, I kinda figured. Just don't blow anything up. You'll give Vikings a bad name all over again."
Reaching down into a duffle bag at her feet, she pulled out another gift-wrapped box and held it out to Ron. "This one's for you."
"Thanks, KP!" Ron said, taking the gift and turning it over in his hands. "Hey, Rufus."
The naked mole rat popped up out of his pocket again, spotted the gift in its neat red wrapping paper and squeaked, "Woohoo, presents!" He leaped toward the box, intent on ripping the paper to shreds, but Kim reached over and plucked the package up out of his reach.
"Uh uh," she said, shaking her head at both of them. "Sorry, Rufus, but Ron needs to open his own present this time."
Rufus crossed his paws and sulked. "Aw, phooey."
"Because," Kim continued, "you have your own present to open." She reached down again and pulled out another wrapped box.
"Aw, Kim," Ron said, "you got Rufus his very own souvenir?"
"Of course I did," she said with a smile.
They all watched as the little mole rat made short work of the wrapping paper and excitedly held up the box he had uncovered. "Cheese!"
"Oh, wow!" Ron said, sounding just as excited as his pet. "A Norwegian cheese sampler!" He took the box from Rufus and stared at the enticing array of browns, yellows, whites and oranges.
Kim laughed at their enthusiasm. "I figured that would be a hit. Now open yours, Ron," she said, setting the first box in his lap again.
Ron tore into the wrapping paper eagerly. His box was a little bigger and differently-shaped than Rufus's... but maybe that just meant Kim had gotten him a super sampler.
But when he flipped open the lid of the box, instead of the delectable assortment of Jarlsbergs, Snofrisks and Brunosts he'd been hoping for, he found a floppy-looking piece of dark blue fabric.
He pulled the strange item out of the box and stared at it for a moment. "Uh, it's... a hat?"
Kim nodded. "It's part of a bunad—a traditional Norwegian folk costume." She paused before adding, "For some reason I just had a feeling you would look cute in it."
Ron grinned and placed the hat on his head. Kim quickly reached up and turned it the right way around. "Thanks," he said, spreading his arms wide. "Well, how do I look?"
Across the room, the twins both snickered. "Like a total dork," Jim said.
"Yeah." Tim snorted. "So in other words, pretty much the same as usual."
Ron scowled at them as they burst into laughter, but Kim knew exactly how to distract him from her annoying brothers. "Well, I think I was right; you look cute," she said, kissing him on the cheek.
He smiled back at her. Cute it is, then. "Thanks, KP."
"Do you like it?" she asked.
"Oh yeah," he said. "It's badical."
Kim's eyes narrowed a little, though her smile remained. "But not as badical as what Rufus got, right?"
The expression that fell across Ron's face was a mixture of surprise and guilt. "Am I that obvious?"
"No, but I figured," she said, digging around in her bag again and pulling out another box. "Which is why I got you one, too."
"Booyah!" Ron cried, wrapping his girlfriend in a tight hug before pulling back and enthusiastically accepting the second gift from her.
Rufus echoed his owner's excitement with a paw pump and an exclamation of his own. "Hnk, more cheese!"
The next couple of hours were spent in pleasant conversation. Kim talked all about her classes, her professors, weekend trips spent hiking the fjords, museum visits, new friends, and her roommate, an exchange student from France named Vivienne. "If you put her and Bonnie in a room together," she joked, "I'm not sure if they'd come out of it best friends, or if they'd kill each other within an hour."
It all sounded so exciting... and Ron found himself half-jealous that she'd been off having so much fun without him, and half-guilty for feeling that way—and, once again, for being the reason that she hadn't gone off to spend all four years of college exploring the world like this.
But, almost as if she knew where his mind had wandered, Kim leaned into his side and rested her head against his shoulder. "It was a lot of fun," she said, "but I'm glad to be home." The words were said to the room at large, but her eyes were staring straight up into his.
"Well, we're all glad to have you back home, Kimmiecub," James said.
"Especially Ron," Tim teased.
"Yeah," Jim said, "now he can finally stop moping around like he's been doing all summer."
"Hey!" Ron cried indignantly. "I wasn't moping around all summer."
"Yeah, Jim," Tim said, and Ron turned to stare at him—surprised that one of the twins was actually defending him from the other—before he continued. "Sometimes he was sleeping."
Ron slumped back on the couch, crossing his arms and staring sourly at the two boys as they broke into laughter again. But then a grin slowly formed across his face. "You know, you two should really be nicer to me."
The twins shared a glance, then turned back toward Ron, skeptical but curious.
"Oh?"
"And why is that?"
Ron's grin widened. "Because it would be a real shame if someone put up copies of your baby photos all over the freshman dorms at MIST on move-in day."
Tim gasped. "You wouldn't!"
But Jim placed a hand on his brother's shoulder and glared back at Ron. "No, he's bluffing."
Ron arched an eyebrow at them. "Oh, am I?"
"Yes. How would you know where Mom keeps the baby photos?"
"Because I showed him where I keep them, of course." All eyes in the room swiveled around to stare at Ann Possible.
"Mom!" Jim cried. "You didn't!"
"Why would you do that?" Tim whined.
"Because..." Ann said, looking apologetically at Ron, "he was moping around—" The twins laughed in spite of their distress— "and I thought looking at some pictures of Kimmie might cheer him up."
Kim's face went beet red. "Mom! You showed Ron my baby pictures?"
Ann waved a hand at her daughter. "Oh, don't worry, Kimmie. I didn't show him any of the really embarrassing ones." She paused while Kim breathed an audible sigh of relief, then winked. "I'm saving those at least until you get engaged."
Kim's cheeks colored again, and she studiously avoided her boyfriend's gaze—but it was his reaction that most interested Dr. Ann Possible. She'd had her suspicions for a while now about the plans she could see being made behind those brown eyes of his—and the way they widened at her little joke gave her further hope that she was right.
To be continued...
