Realmz Jetter: Probably, though I don't know for sure.
Thalia-Sandy: I'm not updating, I'm re-posting. Well, this chapter is an update. Thanks though, and welcome aboard.
wildste: As to the second, I mention the body switch in Moods and Moods 2. It may or may not come up here. As to the first, I have a tough time with Rufus. I don't know why that is. It's like: 'Impossible technology? Sure, no problem. Aliens with super powers? Easy money. Talking naked mole-rat? That doesn't seem very realistic. I know it doesn't make any sense, but that's basically how it is. One of these days though, I am going to at least try to write a story with Rufus in it.
Thanks to: mattb3671, dam, lia200304, AquaAddie, WWLAOS, continental-line, Alistanniel, gargoylesama, Triaxx2 and Ace Lannigan.
If anyone is interested in reading the original version of chapter five, just send me an email and I'll send you a copy (I have it archieved).
Ron picked Kim's bra up off the bed and handed it to her with such a deliberately solemn expression on his face that Kim couldn't help but smile.
"It's just a bra, Ron," she giggled.
"I know," he grinned at her. "I have seen them before. Even unfastened a few in my day," he added as he turned away.
"I'll bet you have," Kim allowed as she donned the undergarment When it was in place she threw back the blankets and swung out of the bed.
"Hand me my shirt, would you?" she asked. Ron, who had already put on his own clothes, complied, then began donning his snow pants and winter coat.
"Ron, what are you doing?" Kim demanded.
"Getting ready to go outside," Ron answered calmly.
"Why?" It was a fair question. The storm raging outside the cabin's walls hadn't abated in the slightest.
"I want to see what's on the other side of that door in the storeroom," Ron explained.
Kim found herself nodding despite herself. The door in question was locked from the other side. In all likelihood it merely led outside, but if there was the slightest chance something useful to their survival was on the other side...
"Besides," Ron went on as he pulled on his boots and gloves, "it's not like I'm striking out into the storm. I'll keep one hand on the cabin. No way to get lost," he grinned confidently. His stocking cap went on last. He started for the door, stopped, and looked back with a serious expression on his face.
"If I'm not back in ten minutes, then you can start worrying," he said.
"I'm going to worry anyway," Kim retorted softly. Ron grinned again, crossed to her and brushed her cheek with his lips. Then he ducked out the door into the howling blizzard. Kim stood staring after him, blinking in wonder and touching her cheek where he had kissed her.
Time crept slowly by. Kim knew that Ron would only be gone a few minutes at the most, but his little expedition had already seemed to take forever. It was kind of amazing, really, how empty and lonesome the cabin suddenly seemed. Kim sat down on the bed, her mind whirling.
'I can't believe he kissed me!' she thought, then chided herself for being surprised. It wasn't as if it was the first time that had happened. True, when it came to her and Ron kissing, she initiated the majority of them, but Ron had taken the first step a couple of times. The only odd thing was that none of them had been like this one. 'It was so casual,' Kim mused. 'All the others were in pretty intense moments, emotionally. This one was like when Daddy kisses Mom on his way out the door in the morning.' She was pondering the implications of that when the back door opened, admitting a gust of cold air into the cabin.
"Hey, Lucy! I'm home!" Ron called, doing a creditable impression of Desi Arnaz.
"What did you find, Ron?" Kim called.
Ron appeared in the storeroom door, a big grin on his face and a load of firewood in his arms.
"Boo-yah!" he exclaimed, dumping the wood in the rack beside the stove.
"There's a little lean-to out back that's stuffed to the rafters with firewood," he related as he opened the stove's firebox and tossed in a couple of more pieces of wood. "So we can turn up the heat without worrying about running out."
Kim smiled, then pouted playfully as Ron stripped off his coat and snow pants. "That's almost too bad," she said. "That means we won't need to cuddle to stay warm."
Ron crossed to her and slipped his arms around her waist. "We can still cuddle for fun," he suggested softly.
"I suppose we could at that," Kim agreed as she allowed herself to be drawn into a close but gentle embrace. Laying her head against Ron's chest Kim sighed contentedly. For all that she was a modern, independent, liberated woman who didn't need a man to take care of her, she still enjoyed it immensely when a man cradled her protectively. Not all men could do it well. There were those saw any tolerance of physical contact as a license to grope, and others who overplayed the 'protection' part or tried to carry it into the general relationship. Ron was none of those men. He was wonderful at cuddling. Better than many of her boyfriends, even after allowing for the fact that she and Ron had never had anything in the way of what Kim would call 'sexual contact' Kim smiled to herself. Even when they had been lying all but naked in the same bed, even when he'd had an arm around her nude torso, Ron had carefully kept his hands away from her breasts. That was almost too bad, Kim thought. She closed her eyes and found herself imagining what it would have been like for one of Ron's strong hands to cup her, caress her, for his fingers to tweak...
Kim opened her eyes and drew back slightly, shaking herself to get the image out of her brain. Had she just had a sexual fantasy about Ron?
Ron looked down at her. "Something the matter?" he asked.
"No," Kim said, "I was just having a daydream."
"Must have been an unpleasant one," Ron observed. Kim shook her head. "No, not really," she said, "Just a bit unexpected." She tried changing the subject. "What in the world possessed you to kiss me on the cheek before you went outside?"
Ron shrugged. "I dunno. It just seemed like the thing to do at the time," he said defensively. "You didn't mind, did you?"
"No," Kim said with a reassuring smile. "I didn't mind. I think I would have preferred a kiss on the lips, though," she teased.
Ron teased back. "Which pair?" he asked with a sly grin. Kim jabbed him in the ribs, but laughed too.
"The ones on my face, you perv," she said, her voice stern but her eyes sparkling.
"I could do that," Ron said softly.
Kim looked up at him. There was a strange, odd look on his face, one that probably matched her own expression. Ron's head shifted ever so slightly. Kim felt her heart begin to race. Ron's arms tightened slightly, drawing her closer and...and...raising her up, ever so slightly. She felt herself take a shallow, ragged breath, even as her own head tilted back. She shouldn't let this happen. She should draw away, right now.
But she couldn't move.
No.
She didn't want to move.
Ron would have let her go. Kim had no doubt of that. And no matter how disappointed he might have been, he would have joked about what had almost happened and made her smile.
He was so close now, his head dropping slowly toward hers. She could feel the warmth of his breath on her lips, feel his heart pounding in his chest in perfect time with hers. She felt her arms go up around his neck, felt her feet flex as she raised herself up on her toes.
He was so close.
So close.
So...
"Beep! Beep! Beep!"
Kim blinked. Ron started. The Kimmunicator beeped again, it's familiar tones demanding their attention. Kim drew away from Ron. He let her go, however reluctantly, and turned away, busying himself with the stove and firewood. Kim took a deep breath, let it out and picked up the Kimmunicator. She keyed it, hoping that the curses cascading through her brain on the matter of Wade's rotten timing didn't find their way into her voice.
"Go Wade."
