Aftermath of Wannaweep – Chapter 8

The sun crept up over the trees as the cocks crowed. The grass glistened with heavy dew. The cattle gently lowed as they headed for the feed and water troughs. The farm cat stretched its long orange body and then gave a big yawn, and then it jumped down from its sleeping place on the window sill under the porch and jumped up on the kitchen window sill to look in the window and beg. The family dog crawled out from under the porch, growled at the cat and walked off toward the barn where the men were working. The horses shook their manes and jumped up to run across the pasture. The farm was slowly waking up.

Tara awoke in her room and looked out the window. She had slept fitfully over the night. She checked her cell phone for the 100th time since Ron had left to see if there was a message from him. Nothing. She changed into a Middleton High t-shirt and some blue jeans. She sat down and put on her socks and shoes then went down to the kitchen. Mrs. King and her grandmother were there making breakfast. Her friends had spent the night in various rooms in the house. Mr. Grayson had called a special meeting of the church leaders of the small town and prayer circles had been started. The police had posted an officer on the farm to keep the press away.

"Good morning Tara dear, did you sleep any at all?" her grandmother asked.

"Not really, grandma, I slept a little here and there." Tara said. "I think I watched my phone all night."

Tara's mom smiled at her "Come on and eat some breakfast. No argument young lady" she said when Tara started to speak. "You need your energy. Also, how would your friends feel when they came to eat and you weren't eating anything."

Tara's grandmother went out the front door and rang a heavy metal triangle hanging on the front porch. The men of the farm headed for the breakfast table. Tara's friends who had stayed the night all came to the table. Soon all around were enjoying the breakfast that had been fixed. After breakfast the girls helped to clear the table and wash the dishes and the boys went with the men to help with the farm chores.

Later, after all the dishes had been done Tara and her girl friends all went out in the backyard and sat under the tree as they shelled and picked peas for lunch. The men told the boys to join the girls as Tara needed them more right now. The three guys joined the girls under the tree.

Gina, one of Tara's best friends spoke up. "Okay Tara, spill it, the whole nine yards. All of us want to know. HOW did you get to meet RON Stoppable?" All of the girls laughed.

Tara blushed a little. "Well, he is on the cheer team as the mascot. He was sort of cute so I tried to stay close hoping he would notice me. But he and Kim are so close I never could get him to look at me."

"Kim, as in Kim Possible." Said Danny. "You are friends with Kim Possible."

"Yes, Danny, Kim is Captain of the cheer team. We are all friends."

"What are they like?" asked Jason.

"They are just teens like us." Said Tara.

The whole group gave Tara a baleful look.

"Okay, they are not all just like us." Tara said with a giggle. "They do go around the world fighting all these freaks. Kim is really smart, honor student and all. Ron, well Ron is not the best student but he gets by. But when those two are together it is amazing to see sometimes. They seem to know what the other is thinking before the other even says anything. I have seen be eating her lunch and Ron will walk behind her, she will pick up something off her tray that she doesn't want in toss it in the air. Ron will catch it without a thought and start eating."

"Well, is they are such good friends why don't they date each other." Danny asked.

"Well" Tara said. "The whole school has tried to figure that one out. I guess they are so close that they really don't see each other as romantic interests. But let me tell you, you don't want to cross or hurt either one of them because if you do, the other will come down on you like a ton of bricks."

"Okay all this is fine and good" said Gina. "I want to know how Tara King got her mitts on Ron Stoppable."

"Well, the cheer squad was invited to this competition and on the way we had trouble with the bus near this old abandoned camp. We all went to the camp and found out the Ron had spent the summer there so he helped us get settled since he knew where everything was. Then weird things started to happen. First Mr. Barkin the principal and cheer team coach disappeared. We all hid in one of the cabins as Ron and Kim went out to find out what was happening that is when this mutated monster attacked us and tied us all up with this goop he spit out. Kim and Ron confronted the thing and Kim got captured. It turned out that the thing was a guy that Ron had known at camp. The guy blamed Ron for his mutation and had set the whole team up just to get at Ron. Ron took him out. I mean he took on this real freaked out mutant dude and beat him by himself. He freed all of us and called in help. I was so proud of him that I gave him a little kiss as we left to head home. And well as we got ready to leave there was room in the last patrol car for Ron and one other. Kim and I were the last two waiting for a ride, Sooooo… I asked Kim if she would mind if I rode with him and she said go ahead."

"Shut up, girl" Gina screeched "Get out, you asked Kim Possible if you could ride by yourself with her partner! What did she say?"

"Kim told me go ahead and I did" Tara said. She then told them the whole story of the ride home, the now famous ice cup incident and everything that had happened up till now. The guys were bummed out when they found out the Kim had a boyfriend. The whole group had rolled laughing when she told them about the ice incidents and how it had become part of the culture of the school. We all call it the "Ron Treatment". She told them.

"So you gave, Dena a dose of the "Ron Treatment" huh" said Danny.

"Yes" said Tara "and it felt so good."

"Tara" said Jan one of the other girls. "It's good to see you so happy. When you talk about Ron like you do. We can tell he makes you very happy."

Tara smiled "Ron is such a goof, I mean he is so funny and so nice. The way he treats me and Kim, it just makes you feels so special." Then Tara's face fell. "You all may think it is just fun and games with the two of them. But, it's times like this, when they do what they do, that things are real hard. What they do is so…so dangerous. Like the last time when Monk…when that dude attacked the school to get at Ron and Kim. They fought him off but it was a trap. There was another there that shot bombs at Kim and Ron. Ron saw them, but Kim didn't, he…he put his body between the blast and Kim. It nearly killed him. If Kim hadn't been there to help him, he would have died."

Tears started coming down Tara's cheeks. "Now, they are after the Monkey guy again, and this other guy Dementor. I have heard Kim and Ron talk about both of them. If Dementor and Monkeyfist are working together, it could be a real problem for both of them."

"TARA!" yelled her mother from the house. "THE TV, THE NEWS, RON AND KIM!"

Tara jumped up and ran for the house followed by her friends. When Tara got in the house she ran to living room where the TV was and sat on the couch in front of the TV. Her mother sat beside her and her father was behind her. The room was full of Tara's friends, the farm workers and all of the family.

A newscaster filled the screen, across the bottom of the screen there was a crawl line with the words "TEAM POSSIBLE IN ACTION". "Good afternoon" the newscaster spoke "the teen hero duo of Team Possible has been filmed in action in the jungle of southeast Asia." The screen shifted to show a shaky scene of the duo fighting off several large thugs who seem to come from everywhere, mixed in were a number of monkeys dressed like ninjas. Kim leaped over part of the fray and dropped kicked a small man in a red suit and black helmet. He dropped the box he was carrying and Kim scooped it up and ran back where Ron was fighting off a large number of monkeys with a wooden staff. Then out of nowhere a tall thin man with dark hair all over him leaped into the picture.

Tara screamed and hid her face in her mother's shoulder. "Monkeyfist" whispered her father.

The screen show the monkey ninjas pulling back as Monkeyfist advanced on Ron and Kim. Monkeyfist drew a sword and continued to advance on Ron and Kim. Ron placed his arm into the air. Soon the TV screen showed him enveloped in a blue aura. Then in a flash of light the Lotus Blade appeared in his hand. Kim put the small box in her back pack and backed up to Ron covering his back. Ron and Monkeyfist yelled and the same time and leaped at each other. Soon the two were involved in a broiling fight that the camera man had a hard time following. Tara would scream each time landed a blow on Ron and the group would cheer when Ron got a blow through to Monkeyfist. Kim held off the other thugs and ninja. Then Monkeyfist leaded to give Ron a tremendous blow with his sword only to have the sword snap when it hit the Lotus Blade. Monkeyfist glanced at the shattered weapon and yelled. All of the monkeys disappeared as did all the thugs. Soon it was just Ron and Kim standing in the clearing. The Lotus Blade disappeared in a flash of light as Ron went over to Kim and helped her up. The tape ended at that point.

The newscaster came back on. "This was only one of a series of running battles that Team Possible had to fight to regain some important and highly classified equipment and documents that had been stolen from a government lab. The fight you just witnessed was the final fight where the teen duo was able to recover the vital items. This is the same area where an army patrol and a Global Justice strike team had to fight off a group of terrorist forces who had attempted to purchase weapons from Dr. Dementor several years ago. While the documents and items were recovered both of the teen heroes were injured in the melee although not seriously. After returning the documents to the laboratory the two teen heroes boarded a flight for home."

Tara turned back to gaze at the TV, Ron was on the way back to her. He was hurt but not bad. That was all she wanted to know. At that moment her cell phone rang. She grabbed it and with a shaky voice said "Hello?" Tears poured from her eyes as she said "Ron". She bowed her head and listened to her phone. "Are you okay?" She said as she raised her tear stained face. A huge smile came over her face. "When will you be back? Is Kim okay?" A glorious smile spread over her face as relief washed all fear from her face. "So you will be back when? Okay. Bye."

Tara closed her phone and smiled. She looked around the room and noticed that everyone was watching her. She smiled and said "Ron and Kim are fine, a little bruised up, but that's all." Everyone broke out into cheering. "They are on the way back now and should get here by halftime tomorrow during the game." Everyone started cheering again. Tara just sat back on the couch with small tears coursing her face. Ron was okay and on his way back to her. Tara felt a hand touch her shoulder from behind. It was her father. He was smiling; his smile told her everything was going to be alright.

The Homecoming Game.

The final seconds ticked off and the gun sounded the end of the half. The home team was winning and all were cheering as the player rushed off the field for the locker room. Tara kept looking around for Ron; he had promised that he and Kim would be here by now. She got up to look around again when two of the town police officers came up to her. "Miss Tara, would you follow us please?" Tara's face filled with fear for a moment. The officer smiled, "No Tara, nothing is wrong, Ron asked us to escort you to the sideline. He and Kim have a surprise for you and the whole town. Come on let's get you down on the field." The officers escorted her to the sideline and waited by her side.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, your attention please." The field announcer said. "Instead of our hometown pep band music at halftime we are pleased to announce a very special event. Many of you know by now that Ron Stoppable of Team Possible is visiting our town as guest of the King family. We all saw the tape of them on TV on their most recent mission. The mission that Mr. Stoppable was called away on while he was visiting our town. Now, they have returned to our city." All the people in the stands starting looking around for them. "Well, I should say that they will be returning to our city in the very near future. If all of you will look up you will see an airplane very high up. Team Possible is returning to our town by giving us a demonstration on how they enter some of their missions. They will be executing a HALO jump. That is jumping from an airplane above us at 30,000 feet and freefalling to 2,000 just above the stadium. They will be doing several maneuvers on the way down. We have just been told that they have jumped so we should be able to see them soon."

Everyone strained to look into the sky and soon two tiny dots became visible and grew larger. Then smoke trails started from each dot as they tracked back and forth across the sky over the stadium. The two dots grew larger and larger and the audience was wondering if their chutes would ever open. Then small chutes came out for a few moments then with loud pops the main chutes opened and the two teens floated to landings at mid-field. The whole stadium rose in applause as the two figures disconnected their chutes. It was hard to tell which was which as both had on heavy jumpsuits on that were covered in the parachute harnesses, reserve chutes and oxygen tanks, and they had helmets, goggles and oxygen masks on. One figure tapped the other and pointed toward the sideline where Tara stood. The officers touched Tara on the arm and pointed out on the field. Tara walked out to center field where the two were finishing up with their equipment. One figure started walking toward Tara and the two stopped just feet from each other. The figure reached up and removed the mask, raised the goggles and removed the helmet. A mop of blonde hair came into view as the helmet came off. A huge grin was shown just below one shining brown eye. Only one eye could be seen as the other was closed due to a black eye. Tara was startled for a moment, but when Ron dropped his helmet and opened his arms, she dove into his arms. "Ladies and Gentleman, Mr. Ron Stoppable." The pep band leader who was a friend of Tara's whispered something to the band. Then with much enthusiasm the band began to play "My Boyfriend's Back". The whole stadium roared its approval and joined the band and sang a little of the song.

The other figure walked up to the side of the two. Tara and Ron broke their embrace and turned to face the other figure. The helmet, mask and goggles came off, and the trademark wave of red hair came flowing out. Tara dove into a hug for Kim and as the three shared a hug the announcer said. "Ladies and Gentlemen, Miss Kim Possible." The stadium erupted into cheers and applause as the three teens walked off the field arm in arm with Tara in the middle. Some police officers went out on the field and retrieved the equipment for Team Possible. Kim and Ron stayed after the game after they had gotten out of the jumpsuits and into their trademark mission clothes. They meet as the people that they could, just greeting people and posing for pictures. The game was a victory for the home team but the highlight of the day was the presence of the heroes of Team Possible.

Later that day back at the farm.

The conversation at the dinner table had been full of laughter and celebration. Tara sat between Kim and Ron. Kim was going to stay for a few days at the insistence of the King family to be their guest. Both Kim and Ron needed a little rest after their mission. The town leaders had asked Kim and Ron to appear at the celebration the next day and the two teens had accepted. As the conversation died for a moment, Kim glanced at Ron and nodded.

Ron stood and started to speak. "Mr. and Mrs. King, Kim and I have something to tell you and it has a lot to do with your son and his death." The King's stared at Ron and Kim in complete shock. The only sound that could be heard in the room was the ticking of the grandfather clock in the hall. It then began to chime the hour.


I wanted to give my thanks to all of you for the many reviews and emails that you have sent me. I really would like to express my thanks to ekles, and continental-line for some suggestions. This story has really grown on me and I am having the time of my life writing it. I may slow down my writing a little as I will be concentrating on this story and finishing the "I am" fictions. I may on occasion write a one-shot now and then but not as many as I have in the past. My office workload has increased recently and I may also be facing the possibility of a lawsuit due to some work I did a number of years ago. I will be continuing the other series as best I can. Please stay with me. Writing these fictions helps me face the pressures of this life I lead. They give me an outlet to help me relax and find some peace and quiet if only for the few hours I take to write. Thanks again for all the support that has come my way. God bless you all.