Well, if it's Monday night / Tuesday morning, it must be time for another installment in my Rugrats Weddings series. Of course there can't be weddings without proposals, & that's what these next three chapters are about. Parts of this I've had on the page for months; parts are a last minute hack job, for which I apologize.

It goes without saying that thank y'all for reviewing, but I say it anyway. Thanks. LK, if you think Kimi was a pistol last time, check it out when she's concentrating on Tommy. PJS, your point is well taken; the Chuckie-Angelica angle needs to be addressed, & I will do that. I've already written that part, but there's a lot to come before that. I think it'll be worth it, but that's just me. I didn't forget you write Rugrats stories; the words I used were "noted author in several genres". I thought that would be better than saying you write MST3K AND P*k*m*n AND Transformers AND Dragonball Z AND Mega Man AND Digimon AND Rugrats AND video games AND Gundam Wing AND Sailor Moon AND Tenchi AND Histeria AND Ed Edd & Eddy AND Jimmy Neutron AND... um, oops, guess I just did that, huh? Anyway, I reviewed Rugrats Go Hollywood. Um, lessee what else? Oh, Kimmy Larisa, Nightw2, thank you two too. Please, everyone, continue to read & review.

Rugrats is created, owned, & / or copyrighted by Klasky-Csupo & / or Nickelodeon, which is in turn owned by Viacom.

Tom puffed a bit as he neared the top of the latest 'hill'. He was in the best shape of his life, but the one who had given him that shape was racing him to the top from a different direction. He hadn't seen her yet, but that could mean she was ahead of him, which wouldn't surprise him one bit. "Why does that Kimi have to make a competition out of everything? That's my job; I'm the guy" went through his mind. But he knew he wouldn't have her any other way. And if she was any other way, she wouldn't be the Olympic gold medallist she was. Scaling the last few yards to the top, he was surprised to find himself alone. No Kimi; for once he had beaten her. He let this sink in for a minute while enjoying the view from the other side. Then, silliness hit as he acted out his favorite scene from one of those movies she'd forced him to see with her. "I'M KING OF THE WORLD!!!!", he shouted, his arms raised in triumph.
"OOOOMMMPPPHHH!!!!!" was the next sound to escape his lips as a perfectly-conditioned 97 pound weight fell on top of his shoulders. No, dropped, with catlike agility. "I'M QUEEN OF THE WORLD!!!!!!!!" a very familiar voice called back to him, mockingly.
"KIMI!!", came the anguished cry from below.
Kimi laughed, then started her verbal assault to accompany the physical one. "Oh suck it up, Pickles! You know, you are so out of shape it's not even funny."
"I am not & you know it!" moaned Tom, feeling her cleats on his shoulders. "Alright, you've had your fun; would you please get down now?"
"No." she fired back instantaneously.
"Come on, Kimi, this isn't funny."
"Oh, I think it is."
"Get off!! I can't handle all this weight."
"Bull!" came the reply, with a knock on the head. "You got one of MY bods. I make them; I know how much they can take. Although," said she, putting her hands on the outside of his shoulders, "I'll tell you what, Pickles; I'll make this a little easier." So saying, she applied viselike holds on his outer arms, lifted her feet, & plopped her buns down around his collar.
From below came renewed anguish. "THIS is EASIER?!?!"
More laughter from above. "It is for me. Besides," she continued, moving her hips around his neck in what under any other circumstances would've been a sure turn-on, "it's fun."
"NOT FUNNY! NOT FUNNY ONE BIT!!!"
"Aw, you're sounding like your brother now."
"And you're acting like my cousin again!"
"Angelica gives your head a lap dance? Does Timmy know?"
"You know what I mean... WHOA!"
"You'd better not drop me."
"Tell that to the ground, WHOA!!"
Suddenly Kimi found herself keeling over Tom's head head-first. Thinking quickly, she hooked her feet together at the ankles around his neck & wrapped her arms around his waist, holding on for dear life. On solid ground she would've thought her way out of this situation in seconds; however, gravity & the current terrain were not going to give her that option. Now it was her turn to shout "WHOA!", although her voice was muffled by the front of Tom's pants.
More "WHOA"s followed, one on top of the other until they streamlined into twin screams, muted as they were, as Tom & Kimi rolled down the mountain they'd just climbed. They were fortunate enough, after a few hundred feet, to roll to the side, finally coming to rest against an outcropping of rock. They lay there for a few minutes, catching their breaths & taking stock of the damage their bodies had suffered.
"Well, Tommy?"
"I don't think anything's broken or sprained."
"Same here."
"Then could you please get your crotch out of my face?"
"I could ask you the same question."
"You're on top."
"As it should be."
"Please."
With not a little embarrassment on his part, & not a little mischief on hers, Kimi dislodged herself from her position covering Tom. When she stood, she turned back to him, offering a hand to help him up. Then a flash of mischief crossed his mind; he pulled on her hand in an attempt to pull her down.
It worked, sort of. She fell on top of him, but now that she was in control of her senses again her reflexes worked with devastating speed & precision. The next thing that Tom knew, her knees were in his gut, knocking the wind out of him, again. All of Kimi above her knees now had the appearance to him of a towering column which he had learned to fear & to love, in whatever order.
"Don't toy with me, ever!"
"Okkay, okkay, I surrender already!"
Her face moved to within inches of his. "And you always will; never forget that."
A modicum of confidence now building inside him, his face got that cheeky grin he knew she had serious trouble resisting. "Well, I can't make it too easy for you. If I don't mess up occasionally, who knows, you might subconsciously start looking for someone else to train, or should I say to break?"
As she pondered his words --- and found herself annoyed at the senses they made --- she found herself staring into his boyish face, his impish smile, his charismatic eyes, by which she'd been enraptured since she discovered the opposite sex. And she'd loved him even before that.
She didn't give him the satisfaction of a vocal concession, but it didn't matter; there was a far more important form of satisfaction. That was the form that now took place, Kimi satisfying herself with the knowledge that this was the one sure way to shut him up.
Tom smiled as the kiss happened. He'd lost to her in every way but the most important one, again. And that was all that mattered. Then he felt her hand on his chin, forcing his head back against the hard ground. He didn't mind the pain, much. It would go away. This was just her way of reasserting who was in charge.
He endured, knowing what would happen next. And it did; her compact form slowly sank onto his. As her head rested on his chest he once again felt transported to seventh heaven, taking care not to let his feelings manifest themselves in any sort of laughter --- in her position she would sense that instantly. Yep, no doubt about it; he was a whipped puppy where she was concerned, & he couldn't be happier. The rewards made it well worth it.
For some reason, their conversation on the mountaintop entered his thoughts. "'Queen of the world'?"
Her head rose. "What?"
"That's what you said."
"Oh, heh," she paused, gathering her thoughts which had recently been scattered to the winds, "well, if you're the king I'm not going to be anything less."
"True, true." he conceded. "Only..."
She rose further, onto her arms which now crossed on top of his chest. "Only, what?"
"Well, when two people are king & queen of the same place, they're usually husband & wife."
"Now there's an idea." she chuckled.
"And another thing," he continued, "If I'm king & you're queen, what does that make the others?"
She pondered for a moment. "Well, Dyl would be a prince because he's your brother, & Chuckie would be a prince because he's my brother, & Lil's already a princess, which would make Phil a prince too, or maybe a duke..."
"But we already made Chuck & Lil king & queen."
"Well, of course you did; I wasn't there to be your queen."
His eyebrows rose. "MY queen?"
"I'd better be." As she said this, she rolled off of him, finally preferring solid ground to him. Which was just as well; he was getting tired of supporting her, tho he wouldn't dare say so. But he did finally allow himself to laugh.
His timing was good; by now the laughter only drew curiosity from the small package lying by his side instead of punishment. "What?"
"I was imagining what my Grandpa Boris would've said about what we were doing."
"What?"
Tom's voice shifted to an approximation of memories of his maternal grandfather. "'In the old country, when a man does with a woman what you just did with her, he either married her or paid her'."
And now it was Kimi's turn to laugh. "Yeah, my grandparents would've said pretty much the same thing. They were big on honor, you know."
"Yeah," Tom said, his expression turning serious. "It was good finally being able to meet them that time at the Olympics. I just wish I could've gotten to know them better."
His somber mood was now matched by hers. "They were in poor health even then. They liked you, you know. They told me to hold on to you. That's more than Dad got from them."
This was a surprise to him; Chaz Finster was someone of whom he thought the world. "Huh. What do I have that he doesn't?"
"Maybe he tried too hard; I don't know. Maybe it was you going to them when you were still young. Maybe it was your hair color."
"They don't like redheads?"
"I didn't say that."
"Mm." he figured he'd better let that drop; no sense in disturbing the past..
He chose, rather, to look to the future. "Well, who are we to ignore the advice of our grandparents?"
And now it was her turn for raised eyebrows. "Huh?"
"That's my line." he teased. As he spoke, he raised himself to one knee. As before, she reached out a hand to help him up the rest of the way; this time, though, he declined.
A frown of confusion crossed her face. As Tom reached into a side pocket of his cargo pants, he could see that for once, she was at a complete disadvantage. When he produced a little black box, her eyes, then her mouth, slowly enlarged & continued to do so. Her breathing virually stopped.
"I hadn't planned to do this here or now, but I figure why wait for a perfect time & place that may never come."
She was frozen, her vocal abilities severely hampered. She found herself able to whisper only one word: "Sweetie...?"
Hearing her old pet name for him, he smiled, picking up a much-needed boost of confidence. "But on second thought, could there be a better place than this, in the mountains, where everywhere I look, I see reminders of where I feel when I'm with you, at the top of the world." He opened the box; her eyes couldn't have been fastened to its contents any more even if they were physically touching it. He held it out to her. "Kimi Watanabe Finster, will you marry me?"
That did it; she was now officially petrified, unable to move. As the minutes passed, Tom's expression of hope turned slowly to concern, then to worry over Kimi's apparent catatonia. The hand in front of her mouth, then her eyes, the finger snap, all to no avail.
"Kimi?" Acting on instinct, Tom's hands went to her chest and diaphragm in an effort to stimulate respiration. "Breathe, Kimi, bre--"
He was cut off as Kimi suddenly made a complete recovery, and then some. Kimi leaped up & came down, directly on top of him. Her arms wrapped around his in a death grip, as her lips launched a frenzied attack upon any and every part of him they could find.
As soon as he could find breath enough, Tom managed to squeak out, "Should I take that as a yes?"
In response, Kimi thrust her hand into his face. "Just shut up & stick it on there, now!"
"Yes ma'am!" her bemused beau responded, slipping the ring on the appropriate finger.
"'Ma'am'? Getting ahead of ourselves, aren't we?" She didn't give him a chance to say anything in return; as soon as she felt that ring on her finger, its hand together with its fellow hand --- seized his head on both sides, holding it helplessly vulnerable to a fresh osculatory assault from her.
When the kissing finally stopped, they settled into a familiar position, her in his arms, her head on his chest. And she was sighing.
"Ahh... my sweetie... my king... my sweetie-king..."
"My sweetie queen."
"Mmm,... copycat..."
"And your point is?"
"Mmm..." faded into the most contented sigh she had sighed in some time. The minutes passed. Her smile deepened, with some twinkle added. "We do make the perfect King & Queen of the World, you know."
Her impishness was now matched by his. "What about King Charles & Queen Lillian?"
"Let them get their own world." she said as she moved in for another kiss, another long kiss. She then settled on top of him again. "Or they can have ours; my world is right here."
They were closing in on a personal record for both for most time spent talking sweetly & mushily to each other, & neither was inclined to break away from shattering it. Unfortunately, that record was saved by the bell, as two series of beeps were heard emanating from the two young bodies.
"Awwwww!" exclaimed Kimi, "Whose idea was it for us to be wearing tracking devices?"
Tom froze his voice & even his mouth like his life depended on it, which for all he knew it did.
"Oh yeah." Kimi recalled. After even more units of time had passed, "Can't we just stay here a bit longer?"
"Hey, I'd like nothing better..." Tom began.
"...but how would it look if the trainer was late getting back." Kimi finished.
"Like she'd been behaving herself?"
"As if!" said Kimi as she stood. She then pulled Tom up before he could pull back. Then she jumped into his arms.
"UHMPFH! Um, Kimi, what's going on?"
"Don't just stand there; start running."
"Wha?"
"You heard me. And don't stop till we reach camp."
"You can't be serious."
"Dead serious."
"Dead is what I might be by then. Do you have any idea how far it is back to camp?!?"
"Let's go already; you're wasting time."
Tom had learned from bitter experience that there was no point in pursuing the matter any further, so he opted for the same out he always did: unconditional surrender. He started running.


So ends another chapter. Next we'll have Chuckie & Lil. Angelica? She's in France right now; I'll get to her in a month or two. Really. Like I said, please r & r. Cy'all.