Kim woke up slowly, wondering where she was. She had been in front of the TV, watching the news about Ron…but now she was in a guest room, the large bed she was in a little cloud of heaven, the birds chirping outside the open windows, curtains gently fluttering in the morning breeze.
There was also a smell that was wonderful. Kim blinked and looked over to where Ron was casually sitting, a platter next to him with a number of covered plates.
"8:30," He tsked, "Kimberly Ann Possible, after all the times you got me for sleeping in a little… say to ten or eleven, I'll never let you live this one down." Kim blinked, looking at the tray.
"Ron, is that…" she paused, "You ordered out?"
"Nah, I cooked in." He said, as Kim felt her mouth start to water. She'd never smelled anything so good. Ron looked a little uncertain at some of the plates.
"The eggs and ham are typical American." He said, "I'm playing around with some other ideas, but I figured, well, best go with the old fashioned."
"How many things can you cook?"
"More than when I was at school." Ron said, "Believe me, you need something to relax too… and I'm not patient enough for gardening." They ate together in a companionable silence, until the plates were empty. Kim looked over at Ron and quirked one eyebrow.
"I fell asleep in front of the TV?"
"Seems that way—unless you wanted to watch a showing of America's Greatest Posthole diggers."
"I fell asleep." Kim confirmed. She paused, and then continued, "But I did stay up for the BBC's retrospective on GJ's five year old "secret team."
"Oh." Ron said, "Well, the BBC is truer than some…"
"Afghanistan, Africa, Asia…" Kim paused, "Is their any place you and Yori haven't gone?"
"Nope—but we went lots of places, too, KP." Ron said. Kim frowned slightly.
"Not like that, we didn't…Ron… these people…"
"Were real bad types." Ron replied, "trust me, I know…" He shook his head, "Sometimes you think you've seen the absolute worst men can do, and then some bright fellow comes up with something to surprise you." Kim looked at him, but Ron refused to elaborate, and then changed the subject.
"So, what do we want to do today, presuming the world doesn't come to an end?" he asked.
"Well…" Kim said, "I think that maybe I need to start thinking about what I'm going to do."
"KP…" Ron said, "You don't need to do that yet. We have lots of time." Kim looked over at Ron.
"Ron, I need a job…"
"Why?" Ron said, "You have a fair amount in the bank."
"I do?" Kim blinked. Ron looked at her, confused, for a moment, then brightened.
"You never looked at your bank account, did you?"
"It wasn't allowed." Kim said, "No computers with outside links, and I never really worried about the 41.92 that I knew was in it.
"Well, let's check your account," he said. Kim blinked as they walked into the main room and she keyed in her password.
"It's been changed." Ron smacked his forehead.
"Sorry, KP," He said, "most places use biometrics now—put your finger on the panel by the keyboard." Kim did, and after a few moments, the computer confirmed her identity, and brought up her balance.
She blinked.
And Blinked again.
Obviously, the computer was having a spastic fit, because she was not someone with a bank account of just over fifteen million dollars.
"Fifteen…million dollars?" Kim asked the air.
"Well, more actually, but I've been investing your stock payments." Ron paused, "Actual voting stock was a little dicey, legally, given the felony and the new asset rules, but this was a different sort of animal." He paused, "It's closer to seventy or eighty million, if you count the investment portfolio."
"I…" Kim paused, "Ron, I can't… I mean, I couldn't."
"Why not?" Ron asked. Suddenly, his joking attitude dropped away, "KP, you had to work part time jobs to get a prom dress. You saved my life, more times than I can remember, the last time.." He trailed off and continued, "And we're all supposed to say: 'well, you're an Ex-con, so we have a janitor's job at the school?" He shook his head, "No way. No way in hell, KP. This is yours and you deserve ten times as much, but Yori thought that might give you a heart attack." He smiled, "No strings, KP—if you want to spend the rest of your life hitting every beach in creation, you can. If you want to spend the rest of your life working somewhere because you want to… you can."
"Ron…" Kim said. How did she say this-
"So, I see you are up," Yori said as she walked into the room. She had been standing at the entryway, unnoticed by Kim. It would be impossible to be unnoticed by Ron… she doubted anyone could sneak up on him now. On the other hand, he had been distracted by his surprise… Her lips had a faint concerned cast to them that she smoothed away. She'd hoped Ron wouldn't…but he was so eager to make certain Kim didn't have any problems reentering society…
Kim was sitting, looking poleaxed.
"Ron…" Yori said, "Since you monopolized Kim yesterday, I think I shall monopolize her today… Ned called this morning while you were cooking."
"Oh?" Ron said, "What's up with Ned?"
"The Senate may not approve the Bill." Suddenly, all amusement dropped from Ron's face.
"Those bastards." He said, "Nope, they're not honest politicians, because they certainly aren't staying bought."
"Bought?" Kim asked, in confusion.
"There's a bill up in the Senate that Ron has been backing." Yori said. "It has met with some opposition."
"Food?"
"No." Ron said, pulling his phone out. "Working conditions—it's giving a tariff bonus to companies that can prove they're adhering to safe working conditions, living wages, and that sort of thing in the third world." He paused, "I figured that would be a no-brainer…but there are those who make a lot of money from cheap goods, and figure the kids that get ripped to pieces by unsafe machinery or look 40 when they're fourteen from working in a mine are acceptable profit generators." Kim looked at him, seeing the lines his face had fallen into, the tension that came into his frame. His comment about not having enough time to play games came back to her.
Ron, how much time do you have? So far, she'd seen him for two days, and he'd been on one mission, and was now dealing with the U.S. government, in addition to running a company, and cooking breakfast. When do you find time to sleep?
"Ned." Ron said, "It's Ron—yeah, I'll tell her… get the people together, and I want a complete run down on why this bill is hitting problems this time…and tell Michael that we may need that netmovie on child labor…and we can follow it up with some factual specials on it. If they want to play hard ball, let's see how easy it is for them to get re-elected when I have pictures of every kid who's died in the last year plastered all over their state."
He sighed, putting the phone back, and then was the old Ron.
"Ned says hi, KP." He grinned, "but he's a little busy now, since the boss is playing hookie." He looked over at Yori, "Monopolizing?"
"Yes, Ron." Yori said, "and in fact, I think that Kim might wish to make some shopping explorations…and I know how much you like shopping." Ron blinked.
"That's a threat." He said. Yori nodded, smiling. She looked over at Kim.
"So, Kim-san, would you enjoy some shopping…just us girls?"
"Well, I mean, If Ron wants to come along…" Kim said, in the spirit of the moment, Ron quickly raised his hands.
"No, that's perfectly all right!" He said, "I think you need to get together with Yori! I'll…just catch up on things with Ned!" He backed out of the room, trying not to give the impression of running away.
"Guns, knives and energy beams… no problem." Yori said, "Shopping with the girls?"
"A terror that cannot be borne?" Kim asked, "Let me get dressed, I'll be right out."
In the shower, Kim looked at herself critically in the full mirror that occupied one side of the shower cubical.
I wonder how it keeps from getting fogged. She thought. After the last few days she looked at herself, really looked at herself.
Yeah. She wasn't 16 anymore. She was still pretty slim…but she'd put weight on. A little curvier, parts that had been washboard flat at 16 were now just a little curving out… her eyes had a few lines around them…. Her old bras wouldn't fit… She was still pretty good, although Yori blew her right out of the water. She bet that Yori looked almost the same as she had when she was 16…in a good way. Kim shook her head, in annoyance. Yori was a friend, from way back, and she was still a friend.
Once dressed, and enjoying the way the smart fabric snuggled right in, Kim walked out to the living room, where Yori waited.
"Where's Ron?" Kim asked, Yori sighed.
"He decided not to wait on Ned, so right now he's on a conference call with the Speaker of the House and the Minority Party leader."
"I thought the bill was in the Senate."
"It was, but it's the House that has the most members who are facing reelection…Ron thinks they might be able to put pressure on their ah, reluctant colleagues."
"This is Ron, Right?" Kim said.
"He has…changed a bit since you last were in the same house with him."
"Tell me about it—everything about it." Kim said. Yori nodded.
"That is, Kim-san, the reason for this expedition."
Minutes later, Kim and Yori were heading off to the mall, this time for more of a wandering expedition than the directed shopping expedition her mother had taken her on. Kim abruptly realized that she'd better get her license renewed if she wanted to drive herself anywhere.
The mall was the same combination of familiar and odd Kim had seen before. She and Yori, this time were just exploring, popping in to various stores, shooing the flying orbs away, and looking around.
"I still don't like those things." Kim said, "I mean, how much fun can you have when you're watched all the them?" I've had about ten years too much of being watched.
"Maybe not as much." Yori quietly said, "but they make people feel safer…"
"Hmph." Kim quietly snorted, "Safer."
"Maybe it is because I am from a nation that has less of a tradition of governmental non-interference." Yori commented, "But as long as measures are taken to prevent misuse…"
"I know, but doesn't it make it hard when you and Ron do the mission thing?" Kim said, Like Ron and I used to?
"To some extent, yes—but there are counters to everything." They walked into the food court, where the smart walls, made up of thousands of flexible visual transmitters were showing a storm tossed sea. The text that flashed at the very top of the walls announced that it was a live feed from the North Sea oil platform. Kim looked at the chilly scene, and then out the real windows, showing the bright sunlight beating down on the crowded parking lot. They got a light snack, and found their way to a booth.
"Privacy, please." Yori said to the empty air and Kim felt a certain muffling of the outside noise. She raised an eyebrow.
"It is very cheap to purchase directional microphones, and even modern comphones can be modified into it—most places have these systems." Yori explained, "We have a white noise generator, and scrambler…unless we should decide to start screaming, it is hard for anyone to listen in on us." Kim blinked and nodded. Odd—people willing to have floating security cams, then going to the trouble of outfitting an entire food court with anti-evesdropping measures.
"So." Yori said, "Ron."
"Ron." Kim paused, and then decided to come out with her first thought. "You and he are sleeping together, right?" She paused, "I mean, I don't min-I mean, I do, but, I…" She paused, and turned red.
"Not for some time." Yori said, "But yes, I've shared his bed…nobody else has, to my knowledge." She smiled, "If you get much redder, Kim-san, we may have to call a fire truck."
"That, was such a stupid thing to ask, I'm sorry, Yori.."
"Why?" Yori paused, looking over at Kim, "Ron…" She sighed, "He is different, yes?"
"Yes."
"How?" Kim stopped, thought and started again.
"I've only seen him for a few days, but he's…" She struggled to find words, "More…driven. I mean, he laughs and jokes, like the old Ron, and he cooks, and he does weird stuff…but sometimes, like a switch, and he's… his face gets…" Kim waved her hands, "I can't explain it. He didn't seem like that when he was visiting me."
"Perhaps because he didn't wish to." Yori quietly said. "Ron can be very good at putting on a face when he needs to…whether being his old Ron or when he says something funny to a dying child to ease her way out of the circles of this world." Kim blinked. Without asking she knew that Yori hadn't made that last example up.
"You remember Ron, during the illness, right Kim?" Kim closed her eyes at that.
Kim was standing, outside of the isolation ward. Even the doctors were in full bio-warfare gear, not for their own sake, but Ron's. His immune system was coming apart at the seams, cancers exploding on every part of his body. Ron was barely visible under the tubes keeping him alive, his eyes flickering, hair mostly fallen out. Large black patches on his skin told where necrotization and gangrene had set in, and nurses were scrubbing those away with brushes, conjuring muffled screams from the teen. He had long since passed any possible reach of pain killers. Kim felt the cool glass under her fingers as she looked in. She could hear her mother talking to the oncologist in the background.
"….interferon?"
"Nothing—targeted anti-bodies, immunotherapy, it ate them all without even noticing it. He's already losing body mass to necrotic growths—in a few days, a week at the most, we'll have to start amputating." The doctor paused, "Not that it-" A motion from her mother, caught his attention, and he looked at Kim. The two moved further down the corridor, leaving her alone. Kim watched as the nurses left, opening the door almost covered with get well cards from school mates and friends, and people they'd helped.
Ron moved slightly, his eyes coming to rest on Kim at the window. She spread her fingers out on the cold surface, wanting to touch him so badly. Ron couldn't speak with all the tubes down his mouth, but it looked like he was trying to smile, even through the sores on his lips and cheeks that made any movement agony. His left hand twitched, the bandages, already staining red, moving… as he, through what effort Kim couldn't imagine, gave her a thumbs up.
Kim waited until he faded into unconsciousness. She felt her mothers hands touch her on the shoulder.
"Kimmie…we should let him rest." Kim let her mother walk her down to the lounge. It had just been months ago that they'd had the prom, that they'd been so undefeatable.
Kim felt herself falling into her mother, Dr. Possible holding her child in her arms.
"Mommy…oh God…" Kim sobbed, "I…"
"Shh…. I know." Her mother said, "We're doing everything we can." She did not say Ron would get better. Kim's mother did not lie. Even when those lies would have been comforting.
Kim shook her head, the cheerful sounds and sights of the mall coming back to her.
"Yeah, I do."
"After you arranged for his cure, he required a certain amount of recovery. He was in the command center during the hunt for.. you know." Yori continued on another tangent, "But his metabolism recovered quickly, perhaps because of his connection with the Lotus blade and the source he and Monkey Fist shared in." She looked across the hall.
"But it didn't protect him from despair. He became…brutal. Wade and Global Justice eventually stopped booking him, so he took his anger out on drug dealers. He finally came to Japan—Sensei requested him to come defend the school."
"Monkey Fist?" Kim asked.
"Nobody. Ron…" She shrugged, "He was terribly angry, terribly weak. He didn't take care of himself, he used the money from Bueno Nacho to keep hunting for something that would make him work better—some victory so great that the United States would have to release you." She sighed. "He despised himself for his weakness."
"Weakness?" Kim said angrily. "Who said that?"
"He did. If he had been faster, not the dopey sidekick, in his words, he would have never been injured, you would have never had to have done what you did, and you would be free." Kim sat back, shocked. How could Ron think that?
"That of course," Yori continued, "Was what led to this Ron…he got his anger under control, and it didn't fall into the self hate I fear it might have. We became lovers." She smiled, "And more importantly, even closer friends."
"And you started running missions again." Kim said.
"Yes, as well as Ron getting Bueno Nacho under control." She paused, "But our missions… well, you've seen the briefings of our time after we started working with GJ and INTERPOL. The number of mad scientists are small compared to the number of simply evil individuals." She paused, "That was the first time…" Yori shook her head. "I am sorry, Kim-san, that is Ron's story to tell, not mine." She smiled, "But as you see, he's mastered the Lotus Blade, is the only one since our founder to carry it so long, and now has set his sights on higher matters—he enjoys life, do not forget that, but he sees Bueno Nacho, and his wealth as another blade, one he can lay to the roots of evils that cannot simply be carted off to jail."
"It sounds like he's become a bit…type A." Kim said.
"He has… in some respects." Yori paused, "Sometimes he'll wake me up in the middle of the night, bursting into my room with a new idea, or plan…and then his subordinates know to fear, because the next thing he'll be doing is calling them late at night."
"Why don't you sleep together anymore?" Kim asked. It was odd, she reflected. If Ron and Yori had slept together before this, she'd be hitting the roof right about now, but Ron needed comfort…and if Yori was the one to give it…well, that was OK.
"Oh Kim…I can be his friend, and even his lover…but there is only one soul who can truly unlock his own." She smiled at Kim. Kim looked back at her, and than away.
Then Ron's not as Bright as he thinks…he has a much better deal in Yori. But she had to ask the most important question.
"Is he happy, Yori?"
"Most of the time? Yes." Yori paused, "But everyone gets tired, and sometimes Ron forgets how much he's done…and simply looks up the slope to how much remains to be done…" Kim shook her head and tried to find another subject.
"I can't believe…millions of dollars." She said, Yori laughed.
"He was thinking about giving you 25 percent of the Bueno Nacho stock…until I pointed out that might be a little overwhelming."
"More than fifteen million?"
"In monetary value, try about seven and a half billion, dollars." Yori paused, "Bueno Nacho is one of the largest food companies on the planet, and Ron's diversified greatly."
"Oh." Kim said. "I was thinking of getting a job…but now… I mean, most people like to talk about how fun it would be to not have to work, but I don't want to just sit around and do nothing…" She paused, "I've had about ten years too much of that." She smiled . "I can't do missions…" She paused, "But that doesn't mean I can't train for them….how about if we go home and you show me how to use that training set up!" Yori controlled her wince.
Well, Ron, your plan to distract her lasted less than one week. Now she wanted to do the one thing that Ron was utterly dead set against. Yori gave a mental sigh. Well, she'd promised to stay, they were her friends, and she would stay… even if right now, the image of the oncoming argument made her want to head back to Japan as fast as she could.
TBC.
