I don't own a thing, Disney does. This story, surprisingly, has just passed Redemption for hits already, and since I have at least 4 more chapters to go after this one, might just pass Bonnie's Curse and be the first to hit the 10,000 hit mark (Bonnie's Curse is sitting at 9,300). Not bad for a story I only decided to do at the last minute, with no idea where I was going to go with it!

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The Twists and Turns of Love – Chapter 13

July 7th, 2005

It had taken him awhile, but James Possible was starting to feel comfortable again with Ron. He and Kim had been dating for almost a month now, and not once, since the prom anyways, had Ron broken the rules. He was also glad the boy had stopped running everytime he saw him enter a room. Maybe he had gone too far, but this was his little Kimmie-Cub, and he just didn't want to lose her.

He pulled into the garage, glad to be home from work early. They had gotten the initial launch vectors finalized ahead of schedule, and a good portion of the lab had been given the afternoon off. As he walked up to the garage door, ready to begin a nice, relaxing afternoon of reading, he noticed the note pinned to the door.

James,

I'm going to be working late tonight, three procedures to get done. You'll have to handle dinner tonight, and make sure Kim gets her clothes from the dryer and that Jim and Tim get their homework done before they start working on their rockets again.

Love you,

Andie

James just winced, as he knew handling dinner meant take-out tonight, and he had been really looking forward to some home cooking tonight. He could disassemble an engine manifold in minutes, but that bloody stove would always give him fits. He swore it didn't like him.

He entered the house, made sure that he had a number of restaurant numbers ready to go when the kids got home, and settled in with a good book.

A couple hours passed, and James rubbed his eyes to try and clear them, realizing they were losing focus as he was trying to read, and decided he needed to do something else for a little while. Remembering that Kim's clothes were in the dryer, he decided he would save his daughter the few minuets it would take to get the clothes, and just leave it up to her to put them away. It was something to do until he felt ready to read again.

He quickly tossed the clothes into a nearby basket, and made the trek up to Kim's room, placing the basket squarely on the bed. He paused to glance around the room, smiling at the pictures of his little Kimmie-cub, some with the family, some with Ronald. His eyes cast down to one on her bedside table, showing Kim and Ron at the prom, and noticed the drawer sitting open. He took a step forward to close it, when he noticed something lying right on top of the papers. It looks like a pill container, shaped a bit like a woman's compact. He picked it up to read the label.

Ortho Tri-Cyclen? Where have I heard that name before? It sounds like something Andrea…

His eyes suddenly widened as he realized just where he had heard that name before.

Birth control pills!

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"So you two broke up, just like that?"

Monique just shook her head. "It wasn't just like that. We weren't right for each other. He just needs someone more his speed, and I'm just not sure what I am looking for in a guy. We're still cool though, I set him up with Katherine in science club. She's a little quiet, but they should get along great! When I left them, they were chatting like crazy. I swear, I've never heard that many words coming out of the girl's mouth at once."

Kim just sighed. "And I was so hoping you two would hit it off."

"As you would say, no big. Felix is a cool guy, just not what I'm looking for right now."

"Well, as long as you guys are still cool. I'll see you tonight at the evening madness sale?"

"Girl, forty percent off… you know I wouldn't miss it!"

Kim waved goodbye to her friend, and walked up to her front door, trying to figure just how many shirts she could get on her admittedly meager budget. As she entered the house, she saw her dad standing there, a frown on his face, and a very familiar looking container in his hands.

"So you and Ronald are already having sex?"

Kim's face blanched. "Dad, it's so not what you think!"

"Well I found these in your bedroom, so they are obviously yours!"

Kim's face turned from one of fear and shame to anger. "You went through my stuff? You went through my things?"

Her father's face never changed. "I didn't have to look very hard, they were sitting right there, where anyone could see them!"

"I can't believe you would do something like this! I thought you respected my privacy!"

"What's going on?" Tim and Jim peeked their heads through the door. They had been able to hear the shouting out at the street, and had gotten very concerned. They had never heard Kim, or their father for that matter, yell like this, and especially not at each other. Their worried expressions showed just how unusual the situation was, as they glanced at first their father and then their sister.

"Jim, Tim, go to your room for now." James never took his eyes off his daughter as he waited for the boys to get to their room. When he heard their door close, he continued. "I just want to know one thing. Are you and Ronald sleeping together?"

Kim averted her eyes. "That's none of your business. I'm old enough to make my own decisions."

"Just answer the question! Are you?"

Kim gaze reverted back to meet her father's, anger evident. "Yes, I am. We're doing it every chance we get! Happy?"

James actually took a step back, surprise and shock mixing with anger in a strange tableau on his face. His hands shook as silence fell upon them, and it was a few seconds before James felt he had the strength to speak. "Get to your room, you are grounded! No phone, no missions, and you are never seeing Ronald again. Do you understand?"

Kim's voice took on an almost pleading tone. "You can't do that!"

"I just did! Now get to your room!"

"I… I hate you!"

Kim rushed right past him, taking the stairs two or three at a time as she made the mad dash up to her room. When James heard the door to her room slam shut, he felt himself collapse inside, and he braced one hand against the wall to steady himself.

Oh God, what have I done. My little Kimmie-cub… she hates me!

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It was several hours later when Andrea pulled up into the parking lot, noticing at once the eerie quiet not normally associated with home when she got out of her car. Usually, she could hear at least some sounds, explosions or laughter or even just talking. But as she opened the door, only silence prevailed. It was unsettling.

She walked into the kitchen, and immediately saw her husband sitting at the table, his head in his hands. She could see the tears that remained dried on his cheeks, and moved quickly to him.

"James, what's wrong?"

He looked up, his eyes red and slightly puffy. "Oh God Andie, Kimmie hates me, and I don't blame her, not one bit."

Her eyes widened as she moved to sit beside him, wrapping one arm around him, holding him. "What happened?"

One hand moved to hold hers while the other rubbed his forehead. "I found Kimmie's birth control pills when I was taking her clothes up to her room, so I confronted her about it when she got home and we started fighting and she told me how her and Ronald… so I grounded her, and then… then she said she hated me! It's all my fault! If I had just handled it better…"

Andrea just rubbed his back, trying to sooth him. "Oh Hon, I'm sorry. I should have told you about Kim's birth control."

He looked over, his eyes wide. "You knew about them?"

"Of course I did, I've been making sure Kim had them for a few years now."

"And you didn't tell me?"

"James, you have this image of Kim as still being a little girl, but that's not who she is. She's a responsible young woman, and I wanted her to be prepared if she ever wanted to make that kind of a choice. The reason I didn't tell you was because I wasn't sure how you would take it, and I was wrong."

James' head lowered as realization set in. "And now her and Ron are…"

"They're not."

His head shot up again, looking at his wife. "But, she told me…"

Andrea just sighed. "She probably said that because she was feeling hurt or angry or both. I talked with Kim, and she and Ron decided it would be better to wait."

James just shook his head. "Oh God Andie, I really screwed things up, didn't I?"

"Do you want me to talk to Kim?"

James really wanted to say yes to that, but he just shook his head again. "No, this is something I need to do."

Andrea leaned in, giving him a quick kiss, before letting him go. James took one last look at his wife, saw the support in her eyes, and slowly made his way up the stairs. The trek felt like one of the hardest he had ever made, the stairs seeming to go on forever, even though he knew there were only the usual thirteen steps to the second floor. He paused briefly as he looked upward to where Kim's room lay and took a deep breath. The first few steps felt laborious, and when he finally had climbed enough to see into her room, he saw her lying on the bed, head buried under her pillow.

"Kimmie-cub?"

"Go away!" The voice was muffled, but he could hear the pain in her voice.

"Kimmie… I'm sorry." James moved slowly towards the bed, settling himself down to sit on one of the corners of the mattress almost gingerly. "I shouldn't have blown up like that. It's just… when I saw those… I panicked! I mean, to me, you'll always be my little girl, and I just… I just have trouble understanding sometimes that you've been growing up."

James watched his daughter slowly shift the pillow to look at him, and his heart thudded in his chest as he realized she had been crying as well. She was always so strong, almost never crying, and knowing that he had been the cause this time hurt more than any of the words she had said earlier.

When Kim could see her father, she saw that he had been crying, and a pang of guilt lodged itself in her chest. "I'm… I'm sorry too. I didn't mean what I said. Ron and I… we're not…"

"I know honey, I talked with your mother. I should have trusted you to be responsible about this, like you are with everything else. I just wish I was a better father, someone you could come to with this kind of stuff. Can you forgive me?"

"Dad, don't say that, of course I forgive you! You're the best father, the best I could ever want!"

Kim moved then, wrapping her arms around her father, hugging him tight. He returned the hug, and her held his little girl close to him, relief flooding through him.

"I love you, Dad!"

"I love you too, Kimmie-cub!"

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Author's Notes – For those enjoying Life Changes, I'm going to wrap this one up as quickly as possible before going back to that one. Shouldn't be too long, so no need to panic. Next story… infidelity? Could Ron be cheating on Kim? Stay tuned!

I'd like to thank the following for their reviews;

Campy – Yeah, I figured a little hint at that might be fun.

Charizardag and AndyCosta – Thank you, and glad you enjoy!

mattb3671 – Yeah, I tried to make the fight seem more "Ron", since I have him much stronger and such in the "later" stories, so I focused on just how old Ron would have reacted. As for Felix, I just kept thinking cartoon humour, and what screams cartoon more than the old "guy on train meets tunnel" gag.

MrDrP – And it wasn't even MF's absence that is the major point there, but that is for a future story.

the Desert Fox – I don't know, I've done the grappling hook once already in Bonnie's Curse, so I wanted to do it a little differently here, and that seemed a good point to do it (Actually went back and added it after I had gotten a couple more pages). But I do see you're point.

Worker72 – I did indeed forget, I've only seen that episode once. She was feeding the machine and helping Ron distract the dinosaur. My bad!