KP The Light at the End Chapter 38, a kim possible fanfic

KP – The Light at the End: Part 38

"Mom, Ron is acting all weird."

Anne Possible looked up from the reports she had been skimming as Kim leaned on her desk with her elbows. First off, it was unusual enough for her daughter to actually visit her at the Medical Center unless it involved her father forcing the two of them to spend time together, or if one of them was hurt, and that pretty much involved the threat of force to get Kim to go anyway. Secondly, to have 'flaked' on an afternoon lecture was not at all like her, unless she had something critical to do otherwise, or had something really important on her mind."

"Is that weird as in weird for Ron, or we should alert Global Justice and perhaps the military weird?" She was hoping to draw her daughter out being slightly flip.

"Mom! We're talking about Ron here."

Indeed they were. The same Ron the younger redhead had once plainly dismissed as not being 'boyfriend' material, yet days later became in even more permanent part of her life. The same Ron who was every bit a son to her as the twins she had actually given birth to. "Yes, the same Ron who nearly took over the world using some of Dr Drakken's stuff, the same Ron who can turn an ordinary high school cafeteria into a gourmet restaurant, the same Ron whose other life-companion is a rodent that's supposed to be part of a hive-like community and be almost completely blind, but anyway, what is he doing that's so weird?"

"He's being all quiet lately."

Oh, that certainly explained everything. Ron, who was know from time to time to keep stuff bottled up inside him, who really didn't tend to babble too much... Alert the presses, something is totally wrong with the world. Still, Kim was prone to having hunches and she needed to humor her, at least for a little bit. "…and you think he's hiding something from you. Let's see, it's the middle of January, so it's too early for him to be doing something special for Valentine's…"

Kim shook her head furiously. "We already decided, since we're getting married this year we're just going to have a private little celebration at home instead of doing anything fancy."

"Does that celebration include something from Alexandria's Confession?" Anne grinned at her oldest child. She knew that Ron would like it just as well if Kim showed up for bed in such naughty frocks, or an old fashioned nightshirt, but there was something to be said for getting something special for what was a rather special occasion. In fact, it had almost been a year since the two of them started…

Kim's glare brought her back from her brief daydream about a wedding and grandkids.

"Really, Kimmie, there's nothing to be embarrassed about, not after the time the two of you lived together at home. It's not like I'm going to run right out and tell your father if you happened to get the same…special thong I have…"

"Mom!" Kim shrieked, blushing a rather becoming shade of pink.

Anne grinned at her again, reading the signs that Kim actually did indeed own something of the sort. There was also the fact that, since her child was now an adult and on the verge of becoming a wife as well, she should learn to speak to her woman to woman. The time for raising a child was past and there was no reason the two women couldn't behave like 'girlfriends.'

"Kim, I think the best thing for you to do is relax. Let whatever it is he has up his sleeve happen. Given his past performances, I'm willing to bet it's something like that trip to Go City for Valentines…and this time you won't have to have separate bedrooms and you can do more than just peak at each other in your underwear."

"How did you?"

"I didn't…until just now. Really, Kimmie, you should know by now not to walk into that kind of trap. On the other hand, the two of you were on that train for hours and had to change clothes, so I figured there was some innocent look-but-no-touch going on, and he'd seen you in bathing suits skimpier than your regular undies by then."

"Honestly, Mom, I am a little worried about something."

"Really? What could possibly have you worried about Ron? His grades aren't slipping, are they?"

"No, or at least not that he's told me lately. He seemed pretty pleased with himself about the mock Presidential Dining presentation they did. But…it could be about his grades if he's thinking what I think he's thinking."

Anne closed the folder on her desk, signaling her child had her undivided attention.

"I know I've been a little bit of a pill lately, and believe me, I know why."

"Still missing the missions?"

Kim nodded, looking at the desktop instead of her mother's blue eyes.

"You're worried he's going to try and set something up? Wouldn't he be worried you would just have another mishap like right before Christmas?"

"Yes and no. See, I think the big thing that time was that I tried going it alone…well, with Sherry." Kim noticed a slight flicker in her mother's expression when she mentioned Shego. Even though she was, by specialty, a brain surgeon, she had remained the primary caregiver for the woman and her child, mainly because the 'retired' villainess had at one time thought the elder Possible was the only physician she could trust. For a moment she wondered if her mother had ever learned to trust the other woman herself.

"I just get this funny feeling, and believe me, I've learned my lesson about ignoring my feelings, but I think he may be planning something just like that, only this time he's going to go along so we'll feel like a team."

Anne smiled warmly. "Honestly, Kimmie, I think that would be a wonderful thing for the two of you to do together. It would be fun."

"Mom, it's not about fun, it's about helping people."

"Now Kimberly Anne, you mean to tell me that you went all these years just because it was all about helping and that it wasn't fun?"

She looked away nervously. "Well, yeah, it was fun, sometimes…most of the time. Except the parts where we ended up chained to a wall. That's not the point, though. I'm just afraid my Kimmunicator is going to beep," She held her wrist unit up for emphasis, " and Wade's going to be there telling me somebody needs help and Joss and the twins will be tied up someplace else and I'm the only one he has to turn to, all because Ron set it up that way."

Anne leaned back, steepling her hands. "What if that were to happen, and it wasn't Ron's doing? Joss is currently at Quantico doing some training, and the boys hopped in the flyer this morning even before school. Would you say no if somebody asked?"

"We've already had this conversation a bunch of times. The whole reason I quit was so Ron…so both of us could finish school up. We can help people a whole lot better with degrees under our belts."

"That still doesn't mean you wouldn't do it if it was a real emergency. That wouldn't be like you. Tell me, you read the rest of your team's after-action reports. Isn't it bothering you the things they are getting involved in, especially since you took yourself out?"

"I'm scared for them, yes." She admitted.

"I wasn't speaking about their safety. Yes, I feel concerned every time one of their Kimmunicators beep, especially since Jim and Tim are still seventeen, but I felt that way with you. I still would if you were still in it. What I'm talking about is how you feel. What did we tell you that Christmas Eve when Ron went on a mission without you?"

"That I knew what I had to do." She said in a near whisper.

"Exactly. Kimmie, you've taken the whole world on your shoulders. That's not something you can just turn on and off when you want to. I can see it in you too. You feel like you're letting the world down every time they get a call and you're not the one hitching a ride somewhere. If I can see it, Ron can too."

"But we talked about just that, a lot. You thought it was a good idea too, you know."

"Yes. That doesn't mean there won't be consequences, and one of those is that you have to live with that decision, with both the good and the bad. Honey, it's really just as simple as Ron caring about you and wanting to do what he thinks is right."

"That's part of the problem, Mom. Ron, when you get right down to it, will do something he thinks is right even if it hurts him, and I can't have him doing that, not any more."

Anne's eyes narrowed slightly. "You're sounding dangerously close to something you said in our kitchen when that French fellow was cutting his hair."

Curiously, Kim made just about the same noise she did then. "So not. This is a decision we made together, not some big thing I just went and made him do."

Anne shook her head. "Kim, no matter what you think, no matter how much the two of you seem like one person, you still have the first twelve years to set how the two of you act toward one another. Face it, honey, you will always be the one in charge."

"Are you saying that he agreed because I'm still 'the boss?'" She whined.

"Yes." Her mother said simply. "There's nothing wrong with that, it's just who you are. You've always been a 'type A' personality and Ron's…not."

"So, no matter how much we talk about things together, he's always going to do what I say? That's ferociously wrong."

"I'm just calling it as I see it. Kim, you did the right thing, both in what you wanted to do and how you went about doing it, but when push comes to shove I think your way will win out more than his."

Kim wasn't exactly sure she was being swayed. "If that were true, then he wouldn't be doing this in the first place."

"That is, Kimmie, assuming that's what he has in mind at all. You know what they say about assumptions. Ron is still Ron, and as random as he's capable of being, maybe it is something as simple as him planning a special trip for the two of you."

"My gut tells me different." Kim said softly.

"And you listen to your gut. I got that part. If you want my advice…" She held up her hand as Kim started to speak. "Don't start about how my advice runs sometimes. That whole snowstorm ordeal when you were still in high school was a fluke."

Kim settled back down in her chair, having been about to bring the very thing up.

"I somehow think your career as a 'teen hero' might have been on its way out when you hit twenty, and not simply because you weren't technically a teen any more. It's all part and parcel of growing up, and trust me, hitting that magical number of eighteen or even twenty-one doesn't automatically mean you're grown up. Trust me, your Father is staring down fifty and he sometimes needs to do a little maturing."

"If I'm not grown up, then why are we living in our own place?" Kim asked quietly.

"I didn't say you weren't ready for that. On the contrary, you've done remarkably well in that regard. Granted, I'd like to see you two in a bigger place, but it seems Ron is taking care of that quite nicely. What I'm trying to say is that you've taken a course of responsibility for yourself, one that I think would have been sorely neglected if you had stayed on the path. You just need to realize, it's never going to stop now. In a few months you're going to graduate. Not long after that, you're getting married. Unless you've changed your mind, you're going to be going to graduate school after that and perhaps looking at a job for yourself, no matter how much money Ron's bringing to the table. There's also the chance, given the way you two have been going at it over the last year that I may get a certain wish before I turn fifty myself."

"Mom!"

"I'm not saying it's going to happen, just that it can. The only perfect form of birth control is something I don't see the two of you doing any more. I have to live with that possibility myself, or I'm going to be in the same boat as Jean having a child in my late forties."

"We are so not going to have a discussion about me getting pregnant. You said it yourself, I've got some growing up to do, and I've got a whole lot before I'm going to be changing anyone's diapers. I went through that enough when CJ was smaller."

"Oh, by the way, how is it now that she's gone home to Gene and Jean?" Anne arched an eyebrow, smiling wryly at Kim.

"Like it's too quiet or something."

"I bet it's not quiet when you two get to be alone at night, and I'm sure the couch is getting a nice workout again."

"Yeah, that was span…MOM!"

Anne leaned back over her desk, her eyes drifting down to Kim's exposed midriff.

"What are you doing?" she asked warily.

"Oh, nothing. Just looking to see if you'd put on a little more weight."

"I.AM.NOT. PREGNANT!" Kim growled. "What's that about 'more' weight?"

"Nothing, dear. You've just filled out slightly over the last couple years, that's all. Growing up stuff."

"Anyway, I know I'm not pregnant. I wouldn't be this tweaked right now if things weren't going perfectly according to schedule."

"I don't know. You can be awfully tweaked without PMSing. Plus, you admitted you forgot to take your meds when you were sick."

Kim threw up her hands. "Closed subject, Mother. In two days it's time for my monthly visitor and that's that."

"Oh, I think you'd make a fine mother. Well, Ron would. I get the impression you're really going to take after your father when it comes to kids."

"What, I'm going to threaten to send my daughter's boyfriends to a black hole if they screw up?"

"I was thinking more like you would scare them to death by taking over their soccer team." She smiled from ear to ear.

"Grrrr. That was six years ago. I've got my 'Kimness' under control."

"If you say so. Bottom line, Kimmie. What are you going to do if Ron does try to whip up a mission for the two of you?"

She slumped down again. "I don't know. I guess if it's for real we'll have to take it. I don't want that to happen."

"I think you do."

"No, Mom, I don't. Maybe if it's something simple, like a rescue mission or just a supply run or something, but it's been a long time since we went up against anything real."

"Those robots weren't real?"

"That was a few months ago. We're bound to be rusty by now, and we ended up getting our clocks cleaned too, even with the advanced suits. Still, when it's all said and done, I am so kicking his biscuit for doing that."

"Unless you have fun."

"Mom, I told you, it's not about the fun. Yeah, we do have fun sometimes, but that's beside the point."

Anne leaned back again, brushing her hands over the top of the folder sitting on her desk. "Tell you what. I don't have any procedures the rest of the afternoon, why don't the two of us drive over to the mall and get some smoothies?"

Kim actually lit up. "That's a great Idea, Mom! Dad used to say we don't spend enough time together…"

"Though I do have to check a couple of my patients. I'm sure the nurses can handle changing Mr. Splayman's bandages, but I do like to look in on it from time to time, maybe even make sure I can still put on a proper dressing."

She smiled very slightly again as Kim turned slightly green. It seemed the girl who could do anything actually couldn't keep her lunch down at the sight of a human being's innards, especially the brain. A fresh incision from that mornings cranial bypass was a little to close to that for her comfort. All the more reason her following her dream of International Diplomacy was a good choice for her. She had the brains and the hand/eye coordination to be a doctor, but there were other traits about her that led her mother to acknowledge she would never be happy at it and in all likelihood, wouldn't be all that great at it, no matter how strong her desire to succeed. Perhaps even because of it.

Sometimes, Anne C. Possible hated playing her daughter. This wasn't actually one of those times. There was something very important to her that had been pushed to the back burner too many times for her comfort lately. Sure, Kim was going to be royally torqued when the nature of the playing came to light.

The surprise she had up her sleeve was going to be a doozy, one that even Kim might like, if she ever got past being manipulated. For the moment, however, it was time to play.

The Ron problem worried her more than she cared to admit. Kim was probably right about being rusty. Sure, they had kept up their physical condition, but no amount of training in the world would help in a real world situation. It also worried her that it was something the boy would indeed try. Part of her was angry with him, if that was the case, since that would be taking both of them into harm's way. Her kids may have been legal adults, but they were still her kids.

"Mom!" Kim growled as she realized they were turning off Main Street a few blocks too early for Middleton Mall.

"What is it, dear?"

She pointed out the windshield of the mini-van. "The mall is that way."

"Oh, I thought we'd try that new place, Celestial Smoothies. They even have a strawberry and peach flavored drink with vitamins and minerals specifically for women."

Kim snorted slightly. "I take a multivitamin every morning. That's just hype so they can charge almost twice what they do at Tangerine Julian's for one."

Anne's grin split her face. She thought the moment she made the turn Kim would realize they were going back to a particular office in that part of town. It did help that the smoothie place was right across the street.

Kim's eyes suddenly snapped open as she recognized the slightly victorious look on her mother. "No way! You're not thinking of taking me to that dress lady again, are you?"

"Kimberly Anne Possible, we're less than six months away from your wedding now, and she's got some lovely dresses for you to try on."

"Mom, those dresses are so last season. If you even for a moment think I'd consider that short thing."

"Oh, what's wrong with it? It's longer than that little black dress you like to wear."

"That dress is for impressing Ron."

"So's your wedding dress. Besides, how can a dress be 'last season?' Certain things never go out of style."

"Hello, Earth to Mom. I don't read fashion magazines just to pass the time."

"Oh, and here I thought you bought them for the articles on 'Fifty Ways to Please Him.'"

"I don't read that kind of magazine, I just like being current."

Anne glanced over at her. She liked to glance at the periodicals from time to time, and even the most 'innocent' of them always tended to have just such articles in them, among the repeated ads featuring models skinnier than either woman, which was saying something considering she was something of a beanpole herself. Then she wondered if she was dropping too much of a hint defending the classic designs.

"I was thinking more along the lines of a 'Princess' style dress. It's bound to be a big wedding, so a nice, long train would be perfect."

"If you like dragging that sort of thing down the aisle." She turned and looked out the window at nothing in particular. "I just wish I could fit in your dress or something." She muttered.

She kept her eyes firmly on the road ahead of them, spying the office park where the designer kept her offices. She remembered when a certain thirteen year-old had gotten in the attic and tried the dress on, right over her tank top and capris. Then Kim had been just a little slip of a girl and the only problems with the fit were the drooping bodice and the fact she was almost a foot too short to wear it. The bodice was still a bit too big, but the younger woman's muscular legs and hips would stretch it to the limit without major alterations.

Hoping to switch her daughter's mind off the dress, she changed the subject, only slightly. "Have you given any consideration to what you're going to have your bridesmaids wear? Or, for that matter, who besides Monique you're going to have?"

"I'm working on it. I think I'll have Mon pick something out. That way they won't be saddled with something horrible. I hate how most of those dresses look and I've got nightmares about when I get called on to wear one myself."

"It's coming, sweetheart. Didn't your friend Tara get engaged last fall?"

"Yeah."

They turned into the parking lot. All she had to do was get Kim to try on some dresses, then the seamstress would have something to go by, therefore keeping the surprise until it was really time for it to be revealed. Anne Possible was truly going to take the 'something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue' bit to heart.

Kim was just reaching for the door handle when her bracelet lit up.

Beep-Beep-De-Beep!