AUTHOR: trista groulx (the dustytiger)
DISCLAIMER: kim, jimmy, bobby, carlos, lieu et al don't belong to me, they belong to NBC, their creator and the actors and actresses who portray them
RATING: R for sexual situations (not really anything really "r" about this one)
SUMMARY: So everyone no knows the whole truth, but it's not all smooth sailing.
AUTHORS NOTES: i told you there'd be a bit more plot... oh the conflict! reviews would be really great... i do think i'm running out of ideas here so... i think this little fic will be coming to an end with chapter 24
It had been a pretty tiring day, but it finally seemed to slow. Kim had curled up on a couch at the fire house, and had fallen asleep. Bobby watched her for a moment as she slept. She looked so peaceful. He wondered how it was that someone who woke up when her son so much as sneezed in the night, but could sleep at the firehouse.
Jimmy had not hurt himself too much in the fire the day before. He hadn't even take any time off. He was poking around in the kitchen while DK made supper, as it was his turn to cook.
The place was a flurry of activity, guys going in and out the room. Turning up and down the TV, and changing stations. She didn't so much as flinch. It had gone quiet, while the squad sat down to eat. Bobby carefully went into the other room, not wanting to be the one to wake her.
He just wanted to watch her sleep a moment. He watched, smiling, from the other room he heard a roar of laughter, which he thought was directed at him. Until he heard Jimmy crack another bad joke.
He picked up Kim's hand, and held it a moment, which didn't wake her up. Then he got on idea. He reached into his pocket, and took out the ring. He carefully slipped it on her finger, gently put her arm back where it had been, and quietly left the room.
Bobby went into the other room to join the rest of
the crew for supper. He didn't really take too much, DK was a pretty
lousy cook, and he wondered why they still made him do it. Maybe
thought one day he'd actually come up with something decent.
Suddenly
they heard an shriek from the other room. It was not like a shocked
kind of shriek, it was almost happy. They all knew it was Kim, but no
one knew what had provoked the response.
"Are you have weird sex dreams in there?" Jimmy called with a laugh.
"About a threesome with Jimmy and Bobby?" Billy added, making himself cry he was laughing so hard.
She didn't respond. She had gone strangely quiet.
"Do we want to know what you're doing in there Kim?" Jimmy called.
She wondered into the room, and she looked a little dazed. She had noticed the ring that was now on her finger as soon as she woke up. Bobby was never one to do anything by the book, she thought to herself. She walked over to where he was sitting. Everyone dropped their forks when she kissed him. It wasn't a friendly kind of kiss either, it a very long messy kind of kiss. The kind of kiss you feel almost obligated to turn your eyes away from, because you feel you're intruding on some personal space.
They had all heard her say that she was in love with Bobby, but no one had really believed it. They never saw them touch each other, or look at each other differently. Nothing seemed different between them until that moment.
They had thought she was saying that to get them off her back about Jimmy. But obviously something had happened, and now they could see plain as day Bobby and Kim were more then friends. She pulled away, and he was grinning at her.
"I missed something," Alex said, breaking the uncomfortable silence that had befallen the room.
Kim broke the kiss with Bobby. Alex was still under the impression that they were keeping the whole thing a secret. Jimmy was so shocked that they weren't just pretending to piss him off, that he couldn't even speak. Kim just smiled at Bobby for a long moment, and neither of them were telling anyone what was going on. Then Alex noticed it, and what finger it was on. Her mouth dropped.
"When did that happen?" she asked.
"They told us yesterday," DK explained.
"Yeah, they told me a while ago."
"Also, a while ago," Bobby told Alex.
"The day you were humming to yourself?"
He blushed. "That's the one." He couldn't help but smile.
"What the fuck is going on?" Jimmy asked breaking his stunned silence.
"Bobby and I are engaged," Kim explained, not really looking at him.
Jimmy realized at that moment that she really had moved past him. Until then he thought there was a slim chance that they could get back together, for Joey's sake, but that hope died. She had really moved on this time, and he knew there would be no more late night visits.
For the first time in a long time Jimmy had nothing to say. He had lost her, and there was no way he'd get her back. He had known for a long time that Bobby only had eyes for Kim, and he had tried to make sure she didn't see it. But now that she did, he knew there was nothing left.
Alex was admiring Kim's ring. "This is really nice," said Alex. "It's so unique, where did you find it?"
"I got it made," Bobby admitted.
"Really?" both women cooed.
"Whipped already, huh?" Jimmy grumbled, before going upstairs.
"Excuse me a second," said Kim, going to find Jimmy.
Bobby tired not to let her running off after him again get to him, but it did. Why did she insist upon looking to him for approval on anything she did. Bobby wanted to follow, but decided that it was better not to. Upstairs Jimmy had taken to kicking a locker, angrily.
"What's your problem?" she asked.
"Are you expecting me to congratulate you?" he responded.
"No, but I wasn't expecting you to walk away, disgusted."
"If you're happy with Bobby that's great. I get the hint, I'm not needed anymore."
"Just because we're not married doesn't mean you're not in my life at all. There's Joey."
"What the hell does Joey need me for?"
"You're his father!"
"He'll realize that Bobby does a better job soon anyway."
She looked at the floor. "So he'll see Bobby more, that's life Jimmy. If you didn't want to miss pieces of Joey's life you shouldn't have-"
"I screwed up, Kimmy, but I can change."
"I've stopped waiting for that."
"Your partner?"
"What does it matter who he is, Jimmy. I was sick of waiting for you to get it, and he was ready."
"You just don't get it, do you?" He slammed a locker closed.
"Get what?"
"Kimmy, I love you."
She began to cry. "It's not going to work this time Jimmy."
"But, Kim I still-"
"No! Just stop it! It's over Jimmy!"
"Why?"
"Because, I didn't mean a damn thing to you, Jimmy, I never did! You saw me and you saw a piece of ass!"
"That's not true."
"Drop it!"
"You were more to me than that Kimmy, you were. At first I wanted to show the guys I could score with the new chick, but you were so much more to me then that. You were my first love."
"And that makes everything you've done to me all right? I don't think so! You proved just how much I meant to you when you slept with my sister. My sister Jimmy! That's a funny way of showing a girl how you feel about her!"
"I was just scared that it was too serious."
"We were serious once, and the fact that that was what scared you is more then enough reason for me not to give you a second chance."
"Kimmy?"
"No, Jimmy, Bobby's ready for this, and so am I. This is what I want, can you at least pretend to be happy for me?"
"What about Joey?"
"What about him?"
"Now that he has Bobby, where do I fit in?"
"Jimmy you're his father, and nothing is going to change that, unless you decide you want to sign the papers to change that."
He stared at the floor. "I don't want to give him up."
"And I don't want you to feel like you have to. I like the arrangement the way it is right now. Joey seems a lot happier with it, and you're really starting to take responsibility for him, and I couldn't be more thrilled."
"Then if I can change-?"
"No, Jimmy, not again. We tried and it didn't work. I will always love you, because you gave me Joey, but I can't be with you anymore. I want to be with Bobby, and I have fully committed to him. Please don't try to get between us."
Jimmy nodded. "I lost."
"It was never a competition."
He was staring at the floor, and he felt like he may cry. "What have you told Joey?"
"Joey knows that Bobby and I are going to get married, he doesn't seem to hate the idea."
"All right. He's known the whole time?"
"I've been trying to explain everything as best as I can."
"What did you tell him?"
"Just that we both still loved him, but I didn't love you anymore, and that I loved Bobby. I told him Bobby and I were getting married because he knows that only married people are supposed to sleep in the same bed."
"Did he hear?"
"God, no! He's a smart kid. He saw Bobby waking up there, and the couch not being disturbed. So I told him that it was all right for Bobby and me to sleep in the same bed because we wanted to get married one day. He accepted the reasoning."
"I just feel like I'm losing him."
She shook her head. "You can talk to him about it to if you'd like. I'm sure he has some questions he doesn't want to ask me."
"Thank you, I needed to hear that."
"I'm not encouraging him to go to Bobby, I'm encouraging him to go to you. Don't let him down."
"Can I have him tonight?"
"Why?"
"Kimmy, I'd just like it if he could stay over tonight, please."
"Fine."
"I'll even get him to school on time, I promise."
"All right, give him an extra hug from me before bed."
He nodded, and then Kim went back downstairs to find Bobby. She was surprised not see him talking with everyone else. She went outside to see if he was there, it took her a while to find him. She smiled at him, and went to kiss him, but pulled he pulled away from her.
"What?" she asked.
"I don't want to talk about it here," he muttered.
"Bobby?"
"I want to talk about this when we get back to your place."
"It's going to be our place soon," she reminded him.
"It's not yet. We'll talk later, I promise."
She nodded, and left feeling more then a little dejected. Jimmy hadn't even left yet which meant she still had half the day to go. Only moments ago she had been floating, and suddenly she was shot back down to earth. She wondered if Bobby's bad mood had something to do with her talking to Jimmy.
end
end notes: eeps! she has the ring but bobby's mad at her... how will the resolve this review and stay tuned to find out in the conculusion the ideas have just dired up, and i think it's feeling forced so i'd rather let this end, before it just gets really really blah