Author's note: Well, here it is finally. The talk. Enjoy.
Anne Possible had always assumed that one day, she would learn of her daughter's first time. When she was 25, she'd come clean with her mother about when and where she and James had done the deed. Oh, she had left out most details, but she was proud that she had had such a close relationship with mother that she didn't feel afraid to tell her, and she'd hoped that one day, Kim would display the same trust.
Never had she thought that Kim would tell her so soon after it had happened. And never had she envisioned that the story that unfolded could have happened. As Kim tearfully told her about her first time on a formerly ice-covered golf course, it had taken all of her self-restraint not too start crying. Eventually, she failed, as she realized how hard all of this had been for Kim. As she held her daughter, she was glad that Kim had at least decided to open up about it.
She had just began to reassure Kim and comfort, when Kim spoke again.
"Mom…", Kim said after a couple of hard breaths, "there is… something I… I haven't told you yet. I'm… I'm pregnant."
Anne fell completely silent, as she watched her daughter. Pregnant? If she had not been prepared for Kim telling her about… her last mission, then this was… even out of her world.
"How… how do you know?", was the only sentence she could manage to speak.
"I… Dr. Taine gave me a morning-after pill and a pregnancy test. I did them both, but something must have gone wrong. And yesterday and this morning I felt I'll, so I… went to the hospital and bought a new test, and… ", she fished the test stick out of her pocket, "it was positive." Kim looked down, not wanting to face her mother as she asked: "Mom, I'm so scared, I don't know what to do. And Ron is coming over in two hours, and, and I, I don't know how I'm going to tell him." Anne hugged her daughter even closer, and softly held her daughter's face up to look into her eyes.
"Kim, hon, listen to me. You don't have to make any decisions yet. I know that you are in nine kinds of panic right now, but you must know that that you don't have to make this decision right now. And you must also know that now matter what you decide, your father and I will support you, you don't have to be afraid of us tossing you out, regardless of your choice. And if you don't feel like it, you don't have to tell Ron yet, either, at least not today. You've had a difficult day as it is."
Kim seemed to relax at her mother's words. She had thought about how telling her mother would be like, and this was quite close to how she had imagined that it would go. She had nightmare about her parents throwing her out of her house, or forbidding her to see Ron, but she knew that despite her father's sometimes over-protective stance, that they wouldn't do anything like that. She took a breath and responded.
"Thanks mom. I… I know that you'll be there for me. And I know that I don't have to make any decisions now. But I have to tell Ron, and I'm going to tell him today." Anne was surprised at her daughter's suddenly determined tone.
"Kim… you don't have to", she began, trying to make sure that Kim did not make any rash decisions. Kim was, understandably, very emotional, and it could backfire if she overexerted herself.
"No, mom. I'm going to tell him. I was going to tell him about the… sitch yesterday, but I couldn't because of the nausea. I'm not going another day not telling him. And I'm not keeping another secret from him. He deserves to know everything." A new sparkle could be seen in Kim's emerald eyes, and it reminded Anne of how Kim could be one of the most stubborn people she knew. Anne nodded slowly.
Two hours later, Ron Stoppable knocked on the Possible's door. Anne answered the door, and sent him up to Kim's room. As he walked passed, he saw James sitting in the kitchen, wearing a serious face if Ron had ever seen one before.
Kim hadn't had the stomach to tell her father alone. Her mother had done much of the talking, while Kim had looked down at the table. Her father had been as understanding as his wife had been, but no matter the circumstances surrounding her daughter's loss of innocence and pregnancy, he still felt like pummeling Ron. He tried not to look at Ron when the young man went by. The rocket scientist was not a violent man, and already knew he wasn't really going to hurt Ron or send him on the black hole probe he always threatened him with. He just couldn't look at him right now.
Ron proceeded to Kim's room, knocked on the door, and when Kim responded that he could enter, he did so. Kim sat on the bed, her hands in her lap.
"Hey, KP", she said softly, noting the somber setting. "Is everything alright? Do you feel better today? I went down to Bueno Nacho and yelled at Ned some, but he said that-"
"I'm fine, Ron. It…wasn't really the food that did it", Kim interjected.
"O-okay… Then… do you have the flu or..." Ron responded.
"No, I… I I'll get to that. But", he sighed. This was it. "I... I was going to tell you something, and I didn't get around to it." Suddenly she remembered that Rufus was probably lying in Ron's pocket, and that she needed to have this conversation with Ron alone. "Uh, Rufus?" Rufus peeked out of his hiding place. "My mom bought some cheese earlier. I think I saw some Jarlsberger." Kim was quite familiar with Rufus' favorite cheeses. The cute little naked mole rat had even composed songs about some of them.
"Hnh Hnh! Norwegian! Mmmm!" Rufus said, licking his mouth in anticipation. He leapt out of Ron's pocket and scurried away, down to the kitchen.
Now, there was only her and Ron in the room. Ron closed the door behind him and sat down beside Kim. Kim looked him in his big, friendly eyes, but looked away.
"When… when you woke up… They told you that the poison hadn't worked fully, right", she began.
"Yeah… It was an experimental drug, Kim. It didn't work. I'm just glad it just malfunctioned, and didn't turn me, like, blue. Again. Or into a beaver. Again."
"Ron… that's not exactly true…" Ron looked at her, confused. He was still alive, so it must have not worked as intended. And if there were any after effects, they would have told him, right? Kim took a sharp breath as she continued.
"When Wade scanned you and found out what poison it was… he also found that there was a way to stop it. If your nervous system could be given a big enough shock, the decay would end, and you'd be ok. The poison was designed that way, I guess." Ron listened intently.
"So… you gave me some kind of shock? Electrical?" Ron was unsure how to interpret Kim's words. The thought of her having to… poor Kim, he thought, and he began to understand what had plagued her the last month.
"No, Ron. There- We- I couldn't. It would have been too dangerous. We were too far away from a hospital and if anything had gone wrong… It could have been more severe than the poison. But Wade found… another solution." This was it. She closed her eyes so that she wouldn't begin to cry from the memory.
"If…Oh god." She held her hand up to her face, covering her eyes. She began to cry despite her closed eyes. She felt Ron's one arm reaching around her shoulder, and his other hand covering hers.
"What, Kim? You can tell me", he whispered softly.
"The only way to shock you enough… was to have sex with you." Her voice almost cracked as she finally told him the secret she'd carried for more than a month. "And I did. On the golf course. It was the only way to keep you alive." She opened her eyes, and braved a look at Ron. He was visibly shocked at the revelation, his face was white and his mouth was not wide open, but was working its way down, slowly. After a couple of moments, he pulled her in closer for a big, emotional hug, and kissed her on her forehead.
"Oh, Kim, I'm…. I'm so sorry. Oh, God, it… it must have been…" He didn't quite know how to finish the sentence with making it sound… bad.
"It… it was what it was." Kim didn't want to say anything about how it had been. Not yet. Maybe sometime in the future. For a couple of minutes, they just sat there, holding each other, until Ron spoke.
"Is this what you've been afraid to tell me?" Kim nodded. "Kim…", he began.
"I… I was afraid that you'd be angry. And… that you couldn't look at me the same way. And I know that… that I did what I had to do, everyone has told me that. But… I know…. I know that I would have been angry if it had happened to me instead of you. And. God, I don't know. I was so afraid of losing you that I thought that…" She trailed off. Ron had recovered from the initial shock. He had listened to her, and his stomach had turned at the mention of the possibility that it could have been him that would have had to…. He understood her fear, but he knew that he had to reassure her.
"…That I would leave you because of this? Kim… Whoever you talked to was right, I… I can't be mad at you for saving my life. No matter how you did it. If you would have had to cut off my arm I would have been ok with it. You have nothing to feel ashamed of, and no reason to be afraid. I'm right here, Kim, I'm-" Ron realized that as he was talking, tears had begun running down his face. He stopped to wipe some away, and shifted himself to kneel down in front of Kim. "I'm right here." He held her face, her beautiful face between his hands. "I'm not leaving. It wasn't your fault, Kim. It was Killigan that shot me with that tee. Not you."
Kim looked at him. Oh, this man, and how wonderful he could be. "But it was my fault", she whispered softly. "If… If I hadn't brought you…"
Ron anticipated this turn of the conversation and was already prepared to handle it. "Kim", he said, "nobody forced me to be there. I wanted to be there. I want to be there with you. I've always wanted to. If I had to stay behind every time you went away on a mission I'd go nuts worrying."
"But", Kim started, "if I hadn't…"
"If you hadn't what?" Ron interrupted as softly as he could. "If you hadn't become a hero I wouldn't have been injured? Maybe. But if you'd been a short-order chef you might've over-peppered my burger. If you'd worked in a men's clothing store you might've sold me bad pants. It happens. But you can only take responsibility for your own actions, Kim. Not mine. I like, no I love that you have a strong sense of responsibility. But you don't have to feel responsible for me that way. Regardless of what could have happened, I would have wanted to be there next to you." Kim marveled at Ron's speech. He seemed to mature with every word he spoke, in a way she hadn't seen him mature since that night when they where chained up in the Bueno Nacho stock room and he had admitted his feelings.
"You could have died, Ron. And if your decisions, or mine, lead to your death, I… "
"I know. Me too." Ron responded. "But if there is even only one chance that my being there can save you from… dying… I'll take it. That's my choice. I'm sorry that you had to do what you did. But it's ok. It's not your fault. And I'm staying right here."
He concluded by leaning in and kissed both of her cheeks before finally landing on her lips.
"But, I must say… I'm a little sour that you didn't tell me earlier. I'm going to let you off the hook for that one if you promise to tell me things like this despite what you think I'll do, ok?"
"I promise", Kim said, and her relief at Ron's understanding suddenly turned into nervousness again. She had said that she would tell him, and know she'd practically promised to do it, even if Ron didn't know what that promised entailed. Ron stood up and sat next to her again. Their tears had stopped falling as they looked into each other's eyes.
"So. Does this mean that we can go back to saving the world on a regular basis again, then?" Ron asked, wanting to lighten up the mood. "I know I'm game for spanking a few villainous butts."
"Ron… no. I quit because-", Kim tried to interject.
"I know, because you didn't want to see me ore anyone get hurt. Well, I think the world needs you. And hey, maybe even me. I mean, GJ and the other guys are good, but, I mean, if they were as good as us, Drakken would have been shouting 'Dr. Director!' in shock more often than he shouts 'Kim Possible!' You know we're doing good things. And maybe we don't have to go after the really bad guys if you feel it's too dangerous." Ron made good points, Kim knew that. And if the sitch had been different, she would probably have said yes to going back to helping people the way they used to. But now…
"Ron… there's another thing I have to tell you." This was the conversation she was really afraid of. She could have predicted that Ron's reaction would have been what it had been. But this one? She didn't know the end or the middle of this conversation. She only knew the beginning.
"I'm pregnant, Ron. I found out four hours ago."
