Chapter 34: Precious Memories

"Or your father could have compressed three seasons of episodes for you to watch while you were getting your memory back," answered Mrs. Possible.

"That would explain it," Kim commented.

"Oh come on, Kim. 'Rockets Are Go'!" Ron tried to pacify.

"Not anymore there not," Kim immediately spat out, and turned off the television.

"Eh," Ron replied, feeling a little exhausted, but hiding it. Then he added, "Well I'm headed home, see you in the morning KP." He waved cheerfully as he went out the front door. Kim concerned that she might have been a little harsh went to the door to make sure Ron hadn't taken her spat the wrong way. Before she could speak when she reach the door, she saw Ron fall forward and over to the side into the grass.

"RON!"

Kim changed the damp rag on Ron's forehead as he lay on his own bed. Her mom had checked him out and said that he probably fell over from exhaustion. What exhausted him so much? I pretty much remember everything from when I had amnesia, in addition to the memories I got back. Well I didn't remember watching the Captain Constellation bit, but that got grouped into Dad's massive memory restorative DVDs. He seemed okay after we embraced inside the train. After that we came home and my Dad was watching the Captain Constellation and Ron hopped onto the couch. Eventually I made my comment that Mom gave me the answer for, but nothing would seem to have tired Ron out this much.

Kim's thoughts were interrupted as Mrs. Stoppable came up the stairs with Hana.

"Kim can you watch Hana for a bit? I need to run to the store and my husband is still at work."

"Sure thing," Kim replied as she took Hana from Mrs. Stoppable's arms. Kim also asked before Mrs. Stoppable went down the stairs, "Quick question, but did Ron do anything extraneous while I was trying to get my memory back?"

Mrs. Stoppable replied, "Nothing more than he usually does. Although I don't think he's had any sleep since he picked you up that morning for your first day at school with your amnesia." She then walked down the steps to head to the store.

As Kim cradled Hana she thought, Oh! Ron, why didn't you get any sleep? You slept fine the first night I had my amnesia, so what caused you to panic so much the following nights? She looked at the giggling Hana. "You wouldn't know what he was up to would you?" she asked the child in a mock-serious tone.

Strangely, Hana responded by keeping her hands out like she was trying to reach for Ron's desk. Kim, noticing this, walked with Hana in her arms over to the desk. "Okay Hana, what's over here that you are so interested in?" Hana started to lightly smack the top drawer. Hmm, maybe Ron keeps some toys for her in there. Kim opened the drawer to find a lot of index cards. Kim sat down in the desk chair and held Hana in her lap with her left arm. With her right hand, Kim pulled out handfuls of index cards. Kim looked down at Hana only to see the baby now laying, resting her head on Kim's thigh, and sleeping.

After making sure Hana wouldn't roll out of her lap, Kim turned her attention back to the index cards. These are all various times Ron and I have shared since we became a couple. The hug after defeating the Mathter… that was nice after not being able to touch him for a few days. Or the kiss in SmartyMart after I had commented how he helped me choose him, that was definitely one of our sweeter kisses. The time I caught him trying to practice roller skating. He overheard me talking to Shego about I like to go, but he always fell so we never did it as a date activity. That might have been one our more passionate kisses after he explained why he had been practicing. He's so thoughtful when he doesn't try to be.

The next card Kim read made it clear why Ron hadn't been sleeping. This card starts with Ron thinking how to remind me of Eric. Ugh… why would he want me to remember that thing?

Kim's eyes went wide with realization. He was trying to think of ways to help me remember that he was my boyfriend. She turned her head to look at Ron sleeping. He probably stayed up night after night trying to think of something that would work. It wasn't until recently when he seemed to stop having issues with doubting his worthiness of being my boyfriend. Then he had to live through the nightmare of me not remembering that he's the most important person in my life.

Kim smacked herself in her forehead. Kim Possible you are a real fool. When I finally got my memories of us as a couple restored, I only told him that 'I think I love you'. There's no 'think' about it - I do love him. He was probably too happy I remembered him as a boyfriend to notice, but he deserves better than that. He even took a pretty decent beating from Shego when he stopped me from fighting her because it was obvious I hadn't recovered my fighting knowledge yet. How he came out of that so unscathed I might never know. After he wakes up tomorrow, he is going to get some serious pampering from me, that's for sure.

Kim was so deep in thought, she hadn't heard Mrs. Stoppable come back into the house. Ron's mom came up into the attic and got Kim's attention when she said, "Thanks for watching Hana for me."

"Oh, it was no big Mrs. Stoppable," Kim replied as she handed the mother her sleeping baby. Kim then walked over to the sleeping Ron and planted a soft kiss on his lips. "Sleep well Ron. I'll thank you more tomorrow after you've had your well-deserved rest."

Kim was almost finished looking through the massive family memories DVD her dad had made for her. She heard her mother asked from behind her, "Is everything alright Kimmie?"

"I'm just trying to see something Mom," Kim replied.

"I feel I should tell you that while Ron enjoyed watching those Captain Constellation episodes with you, he did seem uncomfortable when you used lines from the show. Like he could tell you weren't yourself as you used them."

"That's nice to know Mom, but that's not what I'm looking for," Kim said as she continued to focus on the television screen.

Ann Possible exhaled. She had a feeling as to what her daughter was looking for, but didn't think Kim was going to find any of it. Mrs. Possible was about to speak when her husband came downstairs. "I think Jim and Tim have turned in for the night," he said as he walked into the living room. Seeing Kim was back from taking Ron home, he added, "Hey Kimmie Cub."

Kim hit the stop button on the remote as the memories DVD reached its end. With her back to her parents, clearly enunciating each word, she solemnly said, "Why aren't there any pictures or video of Ron and me dating?"

"Huh?" her father asked.

"Why weren't there any pictures or videos of Ron and me dating on the DVD?" Kim clarified with an irritated tone.

Kim's dad walked over and grabbed the DVD remote and started to play it again. He sat down right beside Kim on the couch. Mr. Possible and Kim stared at the TV as the presentation ran one more time. Ron was clearly in a lot more of the pictures and video than anyone else, but all of them were of times of Kim with Ron before that magical night of junior prom. While the father-daughter pair continued to stare, Kim's mom came up behind her daughter and placed a hand on Kim's shoulder. "Kimmie I don't think he did it on purpose, but I don't think there's anything like that on there," spoke Ann in a soft voice as she tried to soothe the anger she felt rising in her daughter.

Kim's dad put down the remote after quickly going through the DVD he had made. "Huh, I guess I didn't put any in," he said very casually.

Kim eyes narrowed in anger. Almost shouting, standing up as she said, "That's it! You just brush it off like it's no big deal. You found the time to make me watch all of Captain Constellation, a show I can't stand, but you couldn't include even one, just one picture or photo of Ron and me since we started dating!"

Mr. Possible stood up, faced his daughter, and started to reply sternly, "Now just calm down and…"

Kim's anger was only fueled by her father not seeming even remotely sorry. She cut him off as she pointed at his chest with her finger. "Instead of wasting my time showing me a stupid cartoon, you could have tried restoring the memories of the happiest moments of my life so far. That way Ron wouldn't have had to live through the nightmare of seeing me remember everything except the fact he's the most important person in my life!" Kim then shoved her father onto the couch and stormed up the stairs to her room. Mr. Possible was a bit too shocked at his daughter actually violently pushing him to say anything as Kim stormed up the stairs.

Bringing him out of his stupor was his wife as she said, "Kimmie has a point. I should have tried to help more too instead of only keeping the boys from messing with her mind too much."

Mr. Possible exhaled. "It's been a long time since she was actually mad at you or me. And this isn't like getting mad at being disciplined in elementary school."

"Honey, if you noticed, she wasn't mad that you tried to take advantage of her memory loss by trying to get her to like Captain Constellation. It was that you did that at the expense of her precious memories of her and Ron dating. I don't know if it's a feeling she has or if she's seen something to actually tell her, but if Ron took her not remembering that they were a couple pretty hard, I think that would make it even worse for Kimmie. Instead of treating her like a child by telling her to calm down, maybe you should have just apologized."

Ann then went around the couch, sat next to her husband, and placed her hand on his. "She's not a kid anymore James. You need to let go a little more. She will always be your daughter, but you have to understand that she has found her special soulmate. Don't make this difficult for her like both my parents did for us okay?" The look in James's eyes told Ann that her words had hit there mark. She added, "I think it would be best if you tried to apologize tomorrow. I'll have a talk with her tonight." Ann kissed her husband before getting off the couch to go upstairs and have a talk with their daughter.

Mrs. Possible gently knocked on Kim's door. "Kimmie, can I come in?"

"Sure Mom," Kim weakly replied.

Kim's mother opened the door that was halfway up the steps between the upper house floor and Kim's attic room. As she walked up into Kim's room she saw her daughter on her bed, back towards the stairs, clutching onto her Pandaroo. Mrs. Possible sat on the stairwell side of her daughter's bed. Kim then mumbled out, "Ron was the only one who said anything about us being a couple when I had amnesia. He even showed me a picture from prom, which only made me think of the times he called wondering if he dreamed the whole thing."

Ann stroked her daughter's head. "Kim, most people probably just saw you two interacting like you always do, so they probably thought you had remembered that already."

"Thinking back on it, you were always trying to tell or show me something when I had amnesia, but you never got to say it between Dad showing me the DVD, you having to do something with Jim or Tim, or Ron trying to restore my memory."

"I was worried about you and Ron. I know your dad would have been too if he didn't get so caught up in reliving the memories with you. He didn't really share your dating memories because those are yours and Ron's alone. It's those precious memories that make your relationship so special."

"Thanks Mom. I'm sorry I yelled at Dad."

"He understands sweetie. He's going to talk with you a little bit tomorrow at breakfast. You two can work things out then. For now try and get some sleep."

"I'll try."

Mrs. Possible bent down and kissed Kim on her forehead. "It will work out fine. I promise you Kim, Ron and you will be okay." She tucked her daughter in under the covers and went back down the stairs, quietly closing the door behind her.

Kim let out a sigh of contentment as she curled into Ron as they lay on the grass in the park. Kim's conversation with her dad that morning had been productive. Ron was doing great and holding her close as they cuddled. Her eyes shined happily as she looked into Ron's eyes. Yeah, Mom was right. Everything turned out okay. That reminds me. "Hey Ron."

"Yeah KP."

"You want to eat out tonight? My treat," said Kim.

"Sure, where do you want to eat?"

"It's a surprise. It's not a dress up meal though." In fact it's going to be at JP Bearymore's Pizza Party-torium. "Oh and Ron"

"Yes?"

Kim cradled his cheek. "I love you"

"I love you too," he replied before their lips joined in a tender kiss.