Chapter 9 is up and running!
The villains make new plans, and things could look bad for Team Possible in the future.
Joss's addition to Team Possible proves useful when an unexpected sitch sidelines Kim.
A group who wishes harm towards Kim and Ron make their plans and set things in motion.
Andy Lipsky calls in a favor from someone who didn't expect to be asked.
An ally makes a startling discovery.
And Kim and Ron discuss a major step in their relationship before facing a hurdle that might just make the point useless!
Ready or not, here's the sitch!
And here is the necessary stuff:
Kim Possible and all related characters are (c) Disney, Bob Schooley, and Mark McCorkle.
Original Characters are my creations, and I would appreciate if you ask before you use them. Thank you.
She was sitting there waiting for him with a smile on her face, and they kissed each other lightly as they now often did when they greeted each other. As they headed off hand in hand towards their Biology class, both Kim and Ron had contented looks on their faces. For the moment, the question of what the monkey ninjas were wanting so badly was temporarily put out of their minds.
D.N. Amy and Bates were beginning to grow impatient. Twice now the monkey ninjas had failed in their retrieval of key components needed for the operation to be a success. To make matters worse for the uneasy partners, D.N. Amy's creatures were having a less than stellar track record in "retrieving" the various ancient texts or scrolls the two humans had decided might be useful. All in all, things were looking a little bleak.
"Your abominations have thus far failed to impress me, milady," Bates huffed.
"You take that back!" D.N. Amy shrieked.
"What? That your creations have become greatly adept at the art of failing?" the short man said with narrowed eyes.
"No!" she yelled. "I'm talking about what you called my babies!"
Bates looked at her incredulously. "You mean to tell me that you are more concerned with the fact that I called them 'abominations' than you are with my reference to them being failures?"
"You're being a big meanie, Bates!" the rogue bio-geneticist yelled.
She picked up a rather large book and tossed it at his head. However, the weight of the text didn't allow her to get much lift on it, and it fell harmlessly to the ground with a sickening thud. The impact caused it to fall open. A couple of the monkeys near it began chattering excitedly.
Bates sneered. "You, madam, are about as useful as soggy crumpet." He turned towards the monkeys. "And just what is so interesting all of a sudden, you pack of flea-bitten failures?"
The monkeys pointed at the book, and D.N. Amy peered at the page it had fallen open to.
"Bates, it appears we may have other options," she said with a sudden happy grin. "At least, we do if I understand this passage correctly."
Bates walked towards her and leaned over to read the book. "Why, milady…I believe you may be right. According to this, it is possible to utilize other sources of energy for the transfer. And if memory serves, there is another such energy source not too far from here. And it might be easier to acquire."
Amy pointed to one part in particular. "But what about this section that talks about 'an alternate vessel must be chosen'? What will we do about that?"
Bates grinned. "If I'm reading this right, we may choose the alternate vessel when the time comes. And I know just who to pick."
The next two weeks passed with relatively little outside the norm happening for Team Possible. There were no more monkey raids, and in fact it almost appeared as if the simian ninjas had dropped off the face of the Earth. Wade was running constant searches, both global and news reference, but so far nothing had come up. Despite this, Kim and Ron kept their senses on high alert. If their time as world-savers had taught them one thing, it was that sitches often followed the old "calm before the storm" model.
However, there were other things to focus on. For one, there was the addition of Joss to the team. As she was still in junior high and didn't have their reputations yet, she was still unable to accompany them on missions that started during the school day. Fortunately, they picked up several missions during this time that weren't of the urgent variety, meaning they could wait until she got out of her classes to leave. The transport sitch was fixed fairly easily with a little help from Global Justice, who arranged for a transport tube they had near Joss's house to be connected with G.V.U. campus network, allowing the darker-haired girl to arrive on campus within ten minutes of entering on her end. Using this same tube, Kim and Ron were able to zip up to the Lazy C in good time as well—as long as they didn't abuse the privilege, Dr. Director had no problems with them using the tube as much as they wanted.
The first few missions Joss came on were a little rough, mainly because she was used to relying mainly on herself. More than once, Kim or Ron had to pull her back from rashly jumping headfirst into a sitch that would be dangerous to charge into without observing first. However, they learned the first job out that it definitely helped the odds to have another person to take on thugs when they were outnumbered. And surprisingly, Joss was almost as adept at fighting the goons as her cousin was. Her style was a whole lot more scrappy than the fluid martial arts movements Kim employed, but one couldn't argue with the results, particularly when Joss was taking down guys who were easily two and three times her size.
The more seasoned members of the team also couldn't argue with her knowledge of the devices they were so accustomed to, like the grappling hooks and knockout gasses, or her know-how when it came to mechanical devices and security systems. Once or twice, she actually cracked the system before Wade could instruct Kim or Ron on how to disable it, though her methods occasionally involved more of a crippling affect than simple disabling. Joss was definitely rough around the edges, but really it was no different than when Kim and Ron had first started out. Before too long, she had comfortably settled into a niche in the team, and they found themselves very glad they had asked her to join them.
Joss's addition to the team also proved to have another benefit as well. It wasn't long before Kim realized just how serious Dr. Hyde was about what he had told her on the first day of class. It seemed like from the very start he was almost constantly assigning her and her classmates various assignments and papers, and more than once she found herself pushing her limits to just complete the work, to say nothing of putting in her normal effort on it. Not to mention she was also dealing with the new pressures presented by collegiate-level cheerleading, like new routines, longer practices, and the more physical conditioning program Coach Williams was putting them through. With everything going on, Kim was starting to run herself thin, and her fiancé, friends, and cousin were all beginning to take notice of it. However, she kept brushing off their concerns, saying she'd take a break when it became necessary. Even so, everyone was starting to see shades of the second Bebe mission beginning to take hold on the red head.
It finally came to a head on the last week of August, particularly on the afternoon of the 30th. It was a Wednesday, and the moment Kim and Ron returned to Patriot Towers she uncharacteristically dropped her stuff by the door and dropped down on the couch, her head leaning back with a tired sigh. Ron took one look at her and made up his mind. He was about to call Wade to tell the tech genius to cancel all missions that night when one came through. In a testament to the exhaustion she wouldn't admit to, Kim's reaction to the call was anything but the normal perk up; instead she basically had to drag herself to her room to change into her mission gear. By the time she was ready, Ron was already heading out the door. Kim blinked in surprise a few times before chasing after him. She found the young man standing on the grass outside, awaiting Joss's arrival via the transport tube.
"Ron, what's going on here?"
Ron frowned. "What's going on is that you're taking this mission off."
"Ronald Eugene Stoppable, you have no right to tell me when I can and can't go on a mission," she said through gritted teeth, her green eyes flashing angrily.
Ron sighed, hating the sitch he was being forced into. "KP, look at yourself—you're exhausted, and in no condition to go into the field. Plus, you've got that paper for Hyde due tomorrow, and who knows when we'll get back from this thing. You need to stay here and take a break."
"Ron," she started with a tweaked edge to her voice. However, she was cutoff as Joss came around the corner at that exact moment.
"Ron's right, Kim," her cousin said with a look that Kim could swear consisted of regret. "Yer getting' to the point that yer gonna collapse if you don't take a break. Besides, this is jest a jewel heist. Ah'm sure me and Ron can handle it."
"But…" Kim objected again before Ron cut her off with a kiss.
As he pulled back, he smiled. "KP, I promise we'll be extra careful. You just get some rest, okay?" If her love's words hadn't convinced her, the look in his eyes finished the job.
"Alright, but only on one condition. I want to know the minute you get back safely."
"Promise," Ron replied with another kiss.
Joss rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "Alright, if you two're done makin' out, we got work to do."
At that moment, a helicopter arrived, and Kim watched with a sigh as her fiancé and cousin boarded the transport and took off into the distance. She watched the top of the tree line where the craft had disappeared from view for several minutes before she turned and headed back into Patriot Towers and up to her Unit. It turned out the paper only took up another hour or two, however, and soon after that Kim became bored. Monique suggested they watch a movie, maybe some chick flick they could never get Ron and Felix to watch, and without anything better to do Kim agreed. However, less than twenty minutes in, she found herself unable to get into the film.
"I'm sorry, Monique," she said after a few more minutes, "but I can't just sit here when I know Ron and Joss are out risking their lives."
Monique smiled. "Not a problem, girl. So then WDYWD?"
Kim sighed. "I don't know. But I do know I don't want to just stay here doing nothing."
Her friend nodded. "Why don't we go hit up the gym, then? Been here almost three weeks and we still haven't used it once."
"Sounds good, I guess," the red head said with a half-smile.
The walk over to Sentinel Station where the student access gym was located was a rather peaceful sojourn. As they walked, Kim couldn't help but notice how calm the campus really was when there weren't students hurrying to class in all directions. It struck her as odd that she hadn't realized this beforehand, but then the realization hit her that maybe this was what everyone was getting at when they told her she needed to slow down a bit and relax. Before they reached the doors to the student union, her half-smile had turned into a full blown grin, and she even found herself laughing a bit at one or two of the jokes Monique made about various things that had happened on campus.
Once inside the workout facility, they exchanged their Guardian Passes for locker keys and changed into their workout clothes. Then after a few minutes of stretching, they picked out a pair of treadmills and started up the programs. At first, Kim tried to utilize the toughest program the machine had to offer, but Monique quickly put a stop to that. At her friend's slightly tweaked expression, the young woman smiled and shook her head a bit.
"Don't even give me that look, girl. Your fiancé gave me explicit instructions that I was to make sure you take serious advantage of this lull and relax a bit.
Kim rolled her eyes a bit but consented, opting instead for a setting of medium difficulty. As their workout progressed, however, she felt more and more relaxed, to the point she even gave up a session with the heavy bag of her own volition. Instead, she joined Monique in a bit of relaxing yoga, thoroughly enjoying the calming stretching of her muscles. And the effects of doing the less strenuous workout added up, resulting in a relaxing session that left Kim feeling more refreshed than any other ever had.
Both girls were so engrossed in their routines they never noticed the young blonde man over in the corner working the dumbbells. Nor did they notice that he had followed them from the moment they left the dorm, or that his cold, dark blue eyes hadn't left them even once, not even when he was changing out his weights for heavier ones.
…
…
In the downstairs portion of Sentinel Station, nestled in a corner in the Guardhouse eating area, three students sat around a table discussing some interesting news.
"Are you sure about that information?" Dack said as he took a bite out of his sandwich, a greedy smile spreading across his face.
"Enough that I'm willing to bet everything Sperlucci I own," Rachael replied with a nasty grin.
"But you said he did leave with a red-head," the young man countered. "How do you know it wasn't her?"
Bricin leaned in a bit. "Hey, if that was Possible that he left with, she's dyed her hair a darker shade and shrunk a few inches. Plus, she was wearing a different outfit than that purple thing she's been wearing lately on those missions of hers."
Rachael picked up a couple fries and slipped them into her mouth. "Plus, according to Terri Everett, the two of them had some sort of fight just before they left. And she also swears that Possible came back up to her Unit before leaving a few hours later to come over to the gym here at Sentinel Station with her roommate."
Dack grinned. "So Stoppable and Possible are having problems, huh? And just before the first game of the season, too."
Bricin brushed her red hair back behind her ear. "Plus, she's been slipping a little during practice. I don't think most of the squad has noticed, but her spots and stunts haven't been as crisp this week as they were last week. Particularly her stunts."
Dack took another greedy chomp of his barbecue. "So you think now's the time to strike, Rach?"
The blonde smiled. "Of course. Simple physics—when you strike at a crack in something, it gets bigger. And the more you apply pressure to it, the larger it gets, until it finally causes the thing to break. All we have to do is plant a little doubt in their minds, and then keep at it until they snap. Which I'm willing to bet one of them will, especially with how much strain they're putting on themselves. Then Stoppable's broken heart is ripe for the picking."
"And Possible too," quipped Dack.
"Right, of course. Possible too," Rachael answered quickly.
"So when do we do it?" Bricin asked with a grin.
Rachael flipped her hair confidently. "Well, let's start tomorrow. Possible already told me that Hyde's giving her a tough time, and tomorrow's when she has him. You just make sure Alice does what she's supposed to, Dack."
Dack sat back, a smug look on his face. "Don't worry. I've already got that little freshman trainer eating out of the palm of my hand. She'll do whatever I tell her too."
"Hey, shouldn't we bring Nate up to speed on this as well?" Bricin commented as she took a bite of her salad.
Rachael sighed. "No, he said he's got his own ideas in the works. To be honest, I can't really tell what he's got going on."
Andy smiled as he dialed the phone number. Surprisingly, just like there was only one Possible family in the Middleton phone book, there was also only one Load family. As he waited for the call to go through, he looked over the piece of paper at the information he'd been able to gather so far. When a woman picked up the phone, he put on his nicest voice.
"Hello, Mrs. Load? May I please speak with Wade for a minute?"
A few minutes later the young man's voice came through the receiver. "Hello, this is Wade."
"Hi, Wade. I need a favor."
"Dr. Drakken?"
"It's Andy now, Wade. Anyways, do you think you can help me out?"
"Depends on what you need."
Andy smiled. "I need a phone call traced so I can locate some people."
Wade appeared to hesitate. "Maybe, but it depends on why you need to locate them."
The blue-skinned man sighed. "Well, it's a couple of people who are important to Sheila."
"Who are they?" The tech genius sounded a little annoyed.
"Nnnngg…well…they're her…ummm…her old roommates from college at Go City University."
"Sorry, Andy, but if you can't tell me the truth on this I can't help you."
Andy sighed. "Fine. They're…they're her parents, alright? We're trying to locate them, and we haven't got much time to do it if we want them involved."
"Mr. and Mrs. Godfrey? But I thought they were dead."
Andy switched the phone to his other ear. "So did we, but according to Hector they're still alive, although they've missed their last couple contacts with him. And their most recent one was over the phone instead of in person like they were doing."
The tech genius sighed. "Well, I might be able to help, but first I want to know what you want them involved in."
"Well, Sheila wants them in our wedding."
The other end was silent for a few moments. Then, "You mean you and Shego are getting married?"
Andy grinned. "Yes. And we actually want you three there as well, and Kim Possible's family as well, if you don't mind. After all, if it weren't for you, we wouldn't be where we are today."
Even over the phone, Andy could hear the young man's jaw drop. "You want us to attend your wedding?"
"Yes. And actually, Sheila was wondering if Kim would consent to…"
"Don't say it," the young man tried to interject.
"…be her maid of honor," Andy finished anyway.
Wade sounded like he was thinking it over. "Alright, I'll agree to help with finding the Mr. and Mrs. Godfrey, but I can't even begin to promise Kim is going to agree to be part of the wedding."
Andy nodded. "We understand that, but there's always hope. Oh, and have some preliminary information for you about the call and Sheila's parents."
"Fine. First off, start with their names and the specifics of the call, and we'll go from there."
"Okay. Their names are Heathcliff and Sheridan Godfrey, and the phone call was made on March 6th to the Go City Bueno Nacho, to the head manager's office, at around 6:00 PM."
It was actually before midnight when Ron and Joss returned. Both appeared relatively unharmed, apart from a very shallow cut that Ron was sporting on his cheek. Kim was rather worried when she first saw it, but a quick clean-up and inspection revealed it to be little more than a graze. According to Joss, the young man had gotten it when one of the thieves they were trying to apprehend had pulled out a knife unexpectedly. However, the wielder had very little obvious training with the weapon, resulting in the wild slashing that resulted in the injury.
Considering the time, Joss quickly hopped the transport tube back home, while Kim pulled Ron into the dorm and up to her Unit. Sensing what might be about to happen and that the two might want some privacy, Rufus hopped out at Ron's room where Felix let him in. Monique, on the other hand, merely smiled as she watched Kim drag her love into the bathroom to clean up. In there, a quick wipe down with some soap and water revealed most of the cut to be simply dried blood. Once that was cleaned up, the injury was barely noticeable other than the redness around it. Then it was into the bedroom, Monique's smile following them the whole way.
"Just don't do anything I wouldn't do," she called as Kim closed the door most of the way after sending a short, good-natured raspberry at her friend.
Ron was a little confused at first until Kim pushed him onto the bed and cuddled up in his arms. Understanding immediately, he wrapped his arms around her comfortingly and kissed her forehead.
"Are you sure you're alright, Ronnie?" she said as she snuggled into his chest.
"I'm fine, KP, I promise," he said with a grin. "To tell the truth, Joss and I didn't even notice the cut until we were almost back here and Jack pointed it out. He also said to tell you that his wife had another baby, a girl this time, and that they're naming her Kimberly."
Kim smiled. "Born at the hospital this time, I hope."
Ron nodded. "Yep. Although he said that was almost more of an adventure than you helping his wife through the labor on the helicopter a few years ago."
Kim laughed a bit. "Birthing twin boys in an open air helicopter in the middle of a flood rescue, so not the drama." Then she thought of something. "Ronnie, what would you do if I were to ask you to do that?"
He shrugged. "Help someone give birth in a helicopter? Shouldn't be too much of a problem."
Kim shook her head. "Not that, silly. What would you say if I asked you to make love to me?"
Ron was silent, and for a moment Kim wondered if she hadn't just made a huge mistake in posing the question. She waited patiently for him to respond, nervously counting the seconds that seemed to tick by like hours. Finally, he blew out his breath a bit.
"Honestly, KP, I don't know right now. I mean, I do want you that way, and since I am a guy I'd probably jump at the chance if it came up. But at the same time, I want our first time to be something special, something that we both take away a good memory from. Plus, I know we've talked a lot about waiting until our wedding night, or if we're traveling waiting until we get to our honeymoon destination."
Although she kept herself cuddled up to him as much as possible, Kim turned her head away a bit. "I know that, but what would you do if I decided I didn't want to wait?"
Ron pulled his head back to get a better look at her. "Are you saying you want to right now?"
Kim shook her head. "No. But lately I've been thinking that four years is too long to wait. Not to mention that I'm curious about certain related activities."
"Like what?"
Kim leaned up and whispered in his ear, and when she pulled back his eyes were wide and his mouth was hanging open. "You'd really have no problem with that?"
Kim smiled seductively. "I don't know. That's my point, Ron. I want to know whether or not I like doing those things to you. And I want to know how you react to them." Her smile widened a little. "Though based on what I'm feeling against my leg, I'm beginning to think you'd like them just fine."
Ron gulped a little, but then his grin matched the deviousness of hers. "And what about you?"
"Me?"
Ron kissed her softly yet passionately. "You really think I'm going to let you have all the fun?" He then whispered in her ear, causing her to blush and breathe heavily at the same time.
She pulled her bottom lip under her teeth. "I think both our minds have been putting some thought into this."
"Evidently so," he replied with a smile.
At that moment, an unexpected yawn escaped from Kim's mouth, and her eyes fluttered shut for a moment. Ron smiled, and slowly picked her up. Then he removed himself from the bed and placed her back on it. However, as he was turning to go, he felt a tug on the back of his shirt. Looking back at her, he saw the sleepy beginnings of a Puppy Dog Pout forming. He smiled and nodded, and instead of exiting the room he turned on her lamp and turned off the overhead light. He then shut the door the rest of the way, and pulled off his shirt before turning back towards her. When he did, he noticed that she had already removed her shirt and capris, and was shaking her head at him. At his confused look, she pointed at his pants.
"Pants off, buster," she said with a sleepy grin. "New rule for us sleeping in the same bed."
"Sounds badical to me," he said with a smile, shucking the mission pants to the ground before climbing in with her.
Had they been sleeping with any space between them, the twin-sized bed would have been a tight fit. However, Kim quickly resumed the cuddling position she'd employed at her uncle's house, which translated into plenty of room for both of them. They kissed goodnight, and Kim was out soon after, Ron following closely on her heels.
Sensei walked his early evening rounds around the grounds of the Yamanouchi school, observing the students as they finished their final lessons for the day and began heading to their rooms to wash up for dinner. The smells of the meal were already starting to drift from the dining hall, and he could hear the clatter of chopsticks and the chatter of people eating beginning to sound. As he roamed the courtyard, he came upon one area in particular. It had been nearly a half a year since the dark day that the Yono appeared at the gates of the school, and during that time, the destroyer's dark temple had been summoned right in the middle of the grounds. Thankfully, the temple had disappeared back into the earth at Monkey Fist's defeat, but Sensei had taken precautions none the less. He had marked the exact spot where the summoning post was, as well as forbidding any student from touching it. Thus far, it appeared that the order had been followed, and apart from the crazed villain's statue somehow disappearing only to reappear at the U.N. for Drakken's medal ceremony, there had been no signs that the grounds had been disturbed. At least, there hadn't been until tonight.
As the school's master approached the marked spot where the Dark Temple of the Yono was buried, he noticed something odd. The ground appeared uneven, as if someone had been digging but then replaced all the dirt they had removed. Feeling a chill on his neck, Sensei quickly summoned all those students who had done sentry duty that day to his chambers. Once they were gathered, he fixed them all with a grave look.
"My students, I wish to know if any of you witnessed any unusual activity during your guard duties today."
One student, a young kunoichi by the name of Masumi, raised her hand. "Master Sensei, I did not see anything today, but a few nights ago, I believe I might have."
Sensei nodded. "Continue, my child."
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "A few nights ago I was posted to night sentry on the left gate tower. When I glanced back towards the school, and I thought I saw several small shadows. However, at that moment the moon hid itself behind the clouds, and before my eyes could adjust, the shadows vanished."
"Where were these shadows located, Masumi-chan?" the teacher asked with a serious look.
"Near the maple that you had planted after telling us we were no longer allowed to approach that area. That is why they drew my eye."
"And you did not report this to any of the teachers?" he said questioningly.
Masumi bowed her head. "I believed at the time that my eyes were merely playing tricks on me, Sensei. Forgive my error in judgment."
The master nodded. "There is nothing to forgive, my student. The rest of you return to your evening meal, and tell no one of what you have heard here in this room."
After the rest of the students had left, Sensei smiled at the young kunoichi. "Masumi, I must ask you to recall any details about these figures that you are able to remember."
The young woman closed her eyes. "There were more than five but less than ten, and all seemed to be doing something to the ground. Also, I knew they were not students because they were much too short."
Sensei nodded. "Anything else? Any information we receive may be of some use. Remember, the smallest grain of rice may tip the scales of fortune."
Masumi scrunched her shut eyes, trying to glean additional details from the memory. "Yes, there is something else. One of them picked something up off the ground and put it into a sack he was carrying on his back."
Although a cold dread now gripped the master, he did not let his student see it. "Thank you, Masumi. You may now rejoin your schoolmates. However, tell no one of this conversation, including your other teachers."
"Yes, Sensei," she said with a respectful bow before departing.
After she had left, he quickly entered into the private area of his quarters, proceeding with swiftness towards what appeared to be a statue with broken teeth in the corner. Removing a few small, stone tokens from his pocket, Sensei placed them in the statue's mouth, where they were revealed to be the carving's missing teeth. The moment all were in place, there was an audible click, and a wall slid up, revealing a hidden room. Inside, there was an ancient scroll that was wrapped around jade rollers whose handles had been carved in the image of monkeys. Slowly, he unrolled the scroll, scanning urgently for the information he sought. When he finally found it, his face fell, and his flowing white mustache began to sway back and forth with worry.
Stoppable-san, I hope you are ready. For soon you will face an old enemy with new powers you cannot imagine. I can only hope you and Kim Possible are up to this task, and that ties will not blind you to what must be done.
The next day proved especially hard for Kim and Ron. It started with the two of them slightly oversleeping, and went downhill from there. Thanks to the oversleeping, Monique had to come in and wake them up, causing both to blame the other for not setting the alarm. It was only Monique's quick intervention and pointing out that the power had gone out during the night that prevented the day from starting off with a fight between the two. However, the incident unfortunately set the tone for the rest of the day as well.
In English, Professor Barkin surprised the class with a pop quiz that no one was ready for. Ron's business teacher, Professor Gavin, pulled out a long-winded discussion that nearly put everyone to sleep, while in Kim's History class, Dr. Hyde was in crueler form than usual. On the spur of the moment, he asked a couple of students, Kim included, to give impromptu reports on the papers they had written. Kim managed to pull off a decent presentation, the whole time secretly thankful that Ron had made her take a break the night before. By the time their respective athletic practices rolled around, both were ready for the day to be over so they could chill out. Unfortunately, the practices were especially grueling.
On Kim's end, Coach Williams decided that since the first football game was that weekend, she was going to put the entire team through every single routine they knew until they could almost do them blindfolded. She also stopped the practice intermittently throughout the practice to have the squad run laps around the outside of the building for various slips in their performance. One of these was actually Kim's fault because she had a momentary lapse and wasn't where she was supposed to be for a spot. Thankfully Kim realized her error and fixed it, because the spot turned out to be needed when the toss and catch one of her male teammates was doing with another girl didn't go as planned. However, it still came out sloppy-looking even without the miscue, so they had to run for it. By the time they were done and in the showers, Kim couldn't think of anything she wanted to do more than curl up on a couch with Ron and watch a movie that contained absolutely no explosions. Or maybe pull him into her room or push him into his for a nice, long make-out and massage session. Either way there was a definite smile on her face as she started up the Sloth and went to go pick him up.
…
…
Over in Ron's territory, things didn't fare much better. The game with the Upperton U. Wildcats was only two days away, and the Guardians weren't near ready enough in Devereaux's eyes. And really they weren't, as they were constantly missing blocks and tackling assignments. Ron actually spent most of the practice running for his life from the scout team defense, and several times found himself slammed to the ground by a group of three or four defenders. More than once, he got his bell seriously rung, and had to go visit the trainers. One of them, a pretty brunette freshman named Allison Jenkins, seemed to be paying him more than the normal attention, but he brushed it off as her eagerness to learn her craft. Or at least he did until the fourth time it happened.
After that hit, he noticed something odd. A couple of the offensive linemen were standing around as if they knew exactly what assignment they'd missed, and the slot back receiver, Dack Daniels, didn't appear to have touched a soul despite having the lead block on the play. As Ron was helped off to the bench, he couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right. That's when he noticed that once again the trainer attending to him was Allison. He also couldn't shake the feeling that he didn't like the way she was looking at him as she examined him. If Kim had been the trainer, he would have had no complaints, but Allison was certainly not his fiancée. However, in the interest of not causing grief, he simply let the matter go. Finally, after what seemed like most of the practice, the team finally came together enough during the last forty-five minutes of practice to satisfy Devereaux's standards. As the team was heading in, Devereaux called both him and the quarterback Vinnie James over for a private chat.
"What's up, Coach?" Ron asked as the old man motioned for the two players to sit down on the bench.
"Stoppable, James, I want your honest opinion about something, and I don't care who you think it might hurt."
Ron and Vinnie looked at each other nervously before Vinnie spoke up. "Uh, yeah, sure Coach."
Devereaux let out an exasperated sigh. "Boys, I want to know if you think there was something fishy going on today."
"Meaning?" Ron asked with a quizzical look.
"Stoppable, I know you're new to this team. But James, you know what I'm talking about, right?"
Vinnie was silent for a moment before responding. "Yeah, but I couldn't really pin it on anything."
That's when Ron remembered the play that had bugged him. "Uh, Coach, just out of curiosity, when we run the Halfback Sweep out of a slot formation, who has lead block, Nate or Dack? I know they've both got big assignments and I can follow either one, but whose supposed to be the lead on that?"
The grizzled coach fixed him with a meaningful stare. "Why do you ask, son?"
Ron shook his head. "Probably nothing, but it just seemed like today neither one of them could figure it out until the defense was already breathing down my neck."
Vinnie perked up a bit. "You know, Coach, he's right. When we ran any Sweep Runs to Ron out of that, they kept appearing like they were lost. But then when we ran the Sweep Pass that mirrors its movements, they were practically error free."
Devereaux nodded. "My point exactly. Either of you know why that was happening?"
"Got me," Ron replied.
"Same here," Vinnie agreed.
The coach looked them both over. "Okay, that's all I wanted to know. And if it happens tomorrow or during the game Saturday, tell me."
"Right, Coach," they said in unison.
As they walked back towards the locker room, Vinnie spoke up.
"Hey, Ron, I didn't want to say this in front of Coach D. because I don't have any evidence yet. But I think you need to be careful around Daniels and Highland."
"Why's that?" Ron replied as he pulled off his shoulder pads and draped them over his helmet, carrying the whole package by the facemask poking through the neck hole in the pads.
Vinnie did the same. "I think they may be gunning for your girl."
Ron smiled. "Let them try. Me and KP are pretty tight."
The quarterback smiled. "Good to hear. But honestly, they're not the ones I'm worried about. I'm more concerned with the ones feeding their drive on this."
"Who's that?"
Vinnie sighed. "Ron, I don't know if you know this, but right now you're on the cusp of becoming a really big name on this campus, especially if you do well this Saturday against Upperton. And unfortunately, that has some heads turning in your direction. And not all of them like the fact that you're already spoken for. As a friend, I'm worried what that's going to do to you and Kim and your relationship, especially if they try something to split you two up."
Ron groaned. "Homecoming all over again."
The other guy fixed him with a quizzical look. "Homecoming?"
Ron laughed a bit. "Yeah, last year during Middleton's homecoming, I got elected King and Kim won Queen. But a girl named Bonnie who never approved of me rigged the voting so that she ended up getting the position. She then tried to split me and KP up by flirting with me and kissing me at the worst possible times, like right when Kim walked through a door. Kim got pretty tweaked at me, but it worked out eventually when she realized that the whole sitch was Bonnie's fault. Besides, KP knows I'm completely committed to her."
Vinnie shrugged. "I hope you're right man, because these girls don't play nice. And I wouldn't be surprised if they try to pull something that puts you in a pretty bad situation."
Ron nodded. "Thanks for the warning man, but I don't think they'll have any success. Like I said, me and KP are badically tight."
After he'd showered however, Ron's confidence was put to a serious test. As he waited with his gear outside the entrance to the field house for Kim to show up in the Sloth, Allison came over to sit down on the bench next to him.
"Hi, Ronnie. Waiting on a ride?"
Ron sighed. "Hey, Allison. Yeah, waiting on Kim to pick me up. And it's 'Ron' if you don't mind."
She scooted a little closer. "Aww, why's that?"
Ron smiled. "Only one girl gets to call me 'Ronnie,' and that's KP."
The brunette giggled. "Oooooh, so it's a pet name you got from your best friend."
Ron sat up a little straighter. "Hey, me and KP are a lot more than just best friends."
"Sure you are. You know, I never understood why you two are together."
Ron rolled his eyes. "I don't know why people can't seem to accept that me and Kim work as a couple. Sure, we can't explain it, but it works and we're happy with that."
"But how do you know that she's the one for you?" the young woman let ooze out of her mouth. "Maybe there could be someone better for you out there."
Ron shook his head. "No, I know that's not true."
Allison smiled. "How many were you with before her?"
Ron scratched his chin. "Honestly, maybe two or three."
"So then how do you know that you've done enough looking?" she remarked as she slid over a little closer.
"Because I know I love Kim," he replied confidently.
"Maybe you only think you love her," Allison countered with a bat of her eyelashes. "If you haven't really looked, how do you know?"
"What are you getting at, Allison?" he said with a confused look.
"This."
With that, she leaned in and kissed him full on the mouth! And not just a light peck either! When he tried to protest, his mouth was instantly invaded by her tongue! When he put his hands on her shoulders to push her back, her arms wrapped around his neck and pulled him closer! Finally, after what seemed like an eternity in his mind, he broke the hold and held her away from him, looking at her like she had lost her mind.
"Allison, what do you think you're doing?" he asked incredulously.
"I could ask you the same thing," said a voice behind him that was filled with anger and hurt.
"Aww man, not now." he complained softly.
Ron closed his eyes and turned slowly around, praying he wouldn't see the face he knew that voice belonged to. When he opened his eyes, Kim was standing there, her arms at her sides, complete and utter hurt written all over her face. Her hands were slowly opening and closing. Before he could blink, one of those hands shot out and smacked him hard across the face. The only thing that told him which hand was the feel of the metal ring encircling the ring finger as it impacted his cheek. The moment the slap had followed through, the owner of that hand had stormed back to her vehicle and shot off into the night.
"Kim! KP! Wait!" he called after her, but she was too far out of earshot. Not that she would have heard him over the squeal of the tires as she sped out of the parking lot.
In an instant, Allison's demeanor changed. "Ron, you and Kim are more than just dating, aren't you?"
Ron hung his head. "We were," he said glumly.
"Listen, maybe I can help. Do you have any reliable number to contact her that isn't her own?"
He sank to the ground. "Maybe," he said. "Why?"
"Dial it and give me the phone. Quickly."
…
…
Over on the other side of the parking lot, two faces grinned with delight behind the tinted windows of a dark blue SUV.
"Man, I can't believe that worked!" Dack rejoiced as he high-fived Nate.
"Tell me about it!" the other young man replied with a huge grin. "That slap could have taken someone's head off. So what do we do now?"
Dack smiled. "Tomorrow we find Possible and offer sympathetic ears. Then, according to Rachael and Bricin we just have to make sure we're there for her to rag about Stoppable to. Eventually, she'll drop him and fall for us. Simple, quick, and clean."
Nate laughed. "Man, wait till the girls hear about this. Where are they, by the way?"
Dack grinned. "They said they were going out to Jake's apartment for the party. You up for it?"
"Definitely, man. I could use a few beers to celebrate this."
…
…
Monique was cleaning up her essay for Barkin's class when her phone began ringing. Noting that it was Ron's number, she quickly picked it up and smiled.
"Hey, Ron. What's up?"
However, the voice that came across the line was one that was female and foreign to Monique's ears. "Hi, is this Monique? Monique Watson?"
"Yes, this is Monique," she replied uncertainly.
"Monique, this is Allison Jenkins, and I need your help like now."
Monique was a little confused. "Okay, but how can I help you?"
The girl sounded calm but with a hint of frantic. "Has Kim made it back to your Unit by any chance?"
"No. Why, is something wrong?"
Allison voice was unsteady. "Monique, I caused a problem between Kim and Ron, and I think Kim is under the impression it's all Ron's fault. But the thing is Ron had nothing to do with it. I'm the one who's to blame here, but after the way Kim reacted I think she might break up with him over it."
Now Monique knew it was serious. "Okay, tell me exactly what happened."
…
…
Kim sat in the parking lot in the Sloth, trying to stop the tears that were flowing rapidly down her face. She wanted to believe that Ron would never do anything to hurt her, but it was hard to argue with what she'd seen. And really, it was hard to misinterpret it either. Even now she could see his arms wrapped around the skinny brunette he had been playing tonsil hockey with. And what was worse was that his arms were wrapped around the girl's skinny waist as well. It wasn't like homecoming a year ago when Bonnie had kissed him as he tried to push her away. No, Ron Stoppable had been a willing participant in this kiss. Through her tears, she looked at her left hand, causing a fresh wave of betrayal to hit her.
This time, he hadn't just betrayed her heart as her boyfriend—he had done so as her fiancé. In one swift movement, she removed the ring and threw it into her purse. The next time she saw him, it was getting shoved right back at him…or better yet, right down his throat. She picked up her things stuff, wiped her eyes, and headed inside, hoping that Monique was out. The last thing she needed was for her BFF to see her like this right now.
Unfortunately, at least in Kim's mind, her best friend was sitting right there on the couch and staring at her when she opened the door, almost as if Monique were expecting her. One look at the young woman's face, and Kim knew that Monique had already heard what had happened.
"Kim," she began.
"I don't want to talk about it," Kim snapped.
In a flash, Monique had moved with a speed Kim didn't know her friend possessed and blocked the way into the red-head's room. "Well, you need to. And before you get all high-horse about what you think you saw, you are going to sit down and listen to what I have to say. And don't even think about using that 'sixteen forms of kung fu' crap to get past me, because I will knock you silly if you try. Now, sit!"
The fire behind her friend's eyes caused Kim to step back in surprise. "Monique, how would you feel if Wade did something like this to you?"
Monique took a step towards her. "First of all, Wade and I aren't dating, and even if we were we aren't even close to the level you and Ron are on…"
"Were on," Kim snapped bitterly.
"No, the level you ARE on!" Monique fired back. "And secondly, before I jumped the gun on this I'd want to make sure I had the whole story."
"You have his side of it," Kim spit out, although the outburst caused a fresh wave of tears to hit her. "You have his version, not the whole story."
Monique shook her head in disbelief. "Girl, you don't know whose side I have. But I will say it's not Ron's version of the events—that much I know for certain. Now sit before I call your mother to come and straighten you out."
Kim sat, but the anger and hurt did not leave her face. "All right, fine then. You want to talk, then talk. Tell me what you think you know."
Monique took a deep breath, and started pacing as she spoke. "Alright then. What I do know is that right now there is an amazing young man caught in a situation that he had no part in causing other than being exactly who he is and doing what he normally does. I also know that there are parties at work here that neither you nor he knew about before tonight, and that they did this because they are jealous of what you two have. Do you understand so far?"
Kim didn't know how to reply at first. Whatever she had been expecting Monique to say, it hadn't been this. "I think so."
Monique nodded. "Good. Now, yes, I did get a phone call about this, and yes, it came from Ron's phone. But, Ron was not the one who made that call. Instead, it was a young woman who was also an unwitting pawn in this whole thing. Are you still following me?"
Kim nodded, a sense of dread beginning to seep in. "Yes."
Monique continued. "This young woman is named Allison, and she was informed by these other parties that you and Ron were nothing more than friends, and that the whole dating thing was just a ruse you cooked up to get the press to stop asking you who you were seeing. Thus, she thought Ron was available, and was the one who initiated the flirting and kissing. Are you still following?"
Kim felt herself unable to breathe normally. "Oh my God, you mean I..."
Monique fixed her with a stare. "You better believe it, girl. What you just basically did was slap the love of your life for the very same reason you agreed to date him, and that is for being himself. As soon as you left that parking lot, Allison asked for his phone and called me to tell me everything that had just happened. She also told me who had put her up to it, which I will reveal only after you and Ron sit down and talk about this. Currently, she is giving him a ride back to this building, and is going to bring him to this room. And I might add that she told me she actually had to basically force him into her car to get him to come up here. Now, when he comes through that door, I want you to look in those eyes and think about what you just did. According to what she's told me about the situation, you might as well have shoved that ring of yours down his throat and left him to go back to Josh Mankey."
Kim was flabbergasted, and the tears falling down her face were no longer of the betrayal that she thought Ron had dealt to her, but of the one she had actually pulled on him. Looking at her finger, she noticed the ring wasn't there. She was about to panic when she remembered it was still in her purse. Dumping the entire contents out, she frantically searched for the sign of Ron's love for her, and quickly pulled it out of the mess once she found it. She was just about to put it back on when a thought occurred to her, a way to help Ron understand that she wasn't about to end things with him.
A few minutes later, there was a knock at their door. Monique answered, and the brunette Kim had witnessed kissing Ron entered with a worried look on her face, followed by a young man who resembled Ron but had none of the typical boyish wonder anywhere on his visage. The moment he entered, he looked at Kim, specifically at her left hand, and his face fell even farther than the low point it had already been at. Monique quickly directed him to a chair, where he not so much sat as he rather sank into the cushions, his face one of complete defeat and despair.
Allison spoke up first. "Kim, my name's Allison Jenkins. Listen, I am so sorry. Ron had nothing to do with this; it was all me. And if you feel like it, I'd completely understand if you would like to slap me through the wall."
Kim smiled and shook her head. "Monique told me everything Allison. Just…please wait a moment. I do have some questions I want to ask you about these people who put you up to this, but I need to..."
The young woman nodded her understanding and took a step back, and Kim turned towards the shadow that was her fiancé. Or at least, she hoped he still was.
"Ron?" she asked tentatively.
Silence.
"Ron?" she said again, this time kneeling in front of him and putting her hand on his knee.
"What is it, Kimberly?" he asked dejectedly, his voice hollow.
The use of her full name hit her hard. "Ron, I'm…I'm so…I…"
At that point, the dam broke, and she couldn't hold it back any longer. Her eyes streaming tears, she lunged forward and locked lips with him. It took a minute, the longest minute of her life, but eventually he began returning the kiss. Her arms wrapped around his neck, and she was overjoyed when he returned the embrace, though she could feel his tears mixing with her own.
"KP, I'm so sorry. I know how that must have looked and..."
"Ronnie, shut up," she sobbed. "I'm the one who should be apologizing. I jumped to conclusions and assumed you were doing something to hurt me, something I should know by now you'd never intentionally do."
Ron gave her a watery grin, and it made her spirit soar. However, the question he asked nearly brought her crashing back to earth. "But then why did you take the ring off, KP? Don't you want to marry me anymore?"
She smiled and handed him the ring. "Ask me again."
"Huh?" he said with a very confused look.
"Ask me the question again."
"Okay?" he replied, not sounding at all sure of himself. "Umm…KP, will you marry me?" he said as he held up the ring.
"Yes!" she exclaimed as she held out her hand to allow him to slip the ring on its designated finger. "With all my heart and everything that I am!" When the ring was once again securely on her finger, she punctuated her answer with a scorching kiss that literally caused his toes and his fingers curl, as well as causing his arms to wrap involuntarily around her.
"That answer work for you?" she joked when they finally broke for air.
"Boo Yeah," he said breathlessly.
A clearing of Monique's throat quickly reminded them there was other business to attend to that evening.
Kim turned to Allison. "Now then, I want all the information you've got on the people who put you up to this, Allison. I need to know exactly who it is that's trying to split me and Ron up."
a/n
As always, comments and reviews are welcome and appreciated. :)
