I don't own a thing, Disney does. See what happens when I get rid one job, my postings come much faster! I'm almost back to my old pace already! As well, forget my earlier assessment, because now I just watched The New Ron, and it clearly showed Senior targeting Colorado on the map as the home of Middleton.
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The Twists and Turns of Love – Chapter 16
August 27th, 2005
"So you're coming over tonight?"
"You know I am KP! What did you have planned?"
Kim smiled as she held the phone to her ear, lying back on her bed. "I told you, I'm going to cook you dinner!"
Silence prevailed on the other end, and Kim began to fear that they had lost their connection. "Uh… Kim… I thought you were joking?"
Kim frowned slightly. "You don't want me to cook for you?"
"No, no, it's not that… umm… your mom will be there… right?"
"No, my folks are at a couples retreat and won't be back until late, and the Tweebs are still visiting Nanna in Florida for a couple more days. We have the place to ourselves."
"OK… that sounds great… um… just be careful."
Kim just sighed, unable to completely hide the irritated tone in his voice. "Ron, it's just dinner! I think I can handle it!"
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Kim didn't feel as confident as she had sounded to Ron, but she knew she could handle this. It wasn't exactly rocket science after all. She looked down at the cooking instructions she had in her hand, downloaded off the internet just yesterday, giving her full directions on exactly what she had to do. She had scanned them several times as she had prepared for this and knew that she could handle it.
Kim turned on the oven, setting it to the temperature suggested, and then moved to grab the roast from the freezer. She smiled as she placed it gently into the roasting pan, and quickly read over the recipe, making sure only to add the spices recommended on the sheet. Satisfied, she placed it in the oven, closed the door, and grinned. There! That was easy enough! Don't know why I was so worried.
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Kim was just starting to peel the potatoes when she realized that she should probably start on the cake first. This was the one that had her most concerned. A roast and potatoes were easy, pop one in the oven, put the other on to boil, but baking had always held a certain… misgiving for her.
She moved over to the cupboard, and pulled down the cake mix box, and read over the directions carefully. Grabbing a bowl from below, as well as the hand held mixer, she focused on what she had to do.
OK… so… cake mix into the bowl… two eggs… water…no problem… now the mixer.
Kim almost winced, holding the mixer tightly in her hand, as she turned it on, making sure it was at a light setting. She breathed an audible sigh of relief when everything didn't instantly go flying around the room. The cake batter was coming together nicely, everything going as it should, when Kim accidentally brushed the mixer blades on the bottom of the bowl. The mixer jumped slightly in her hand, and Kim shifted her grip to get a better hold of it. What she had failed to notice was just how close her finger had come to the mixer speed settings. When she clipped the bottom of the bowl again, she shifted her hand again, brushing the speed control. The mixer suddenly began beating faster, much faster than Kim had anticipated. Batter flew through the air, and Kim lost her grip on the mixer. It fell into the bowl, tipping it towards her, and the blades continued churning. Batter flew directly at her, and Kim couldn't react fast enough as batter splattered all over the front of her, caking her hair and face, as well as the front of her shirt. Sputtering, Kim reached for the power cord, yanking it out of the socket as fast as she could, ending the beaters vicious assault.
When Kim cleared the batter from her eyes, she looked around the kitchen. Batter had been thrown everywhere. The counter, the window, the floor, even the ceiling. Kim could scarcely believe there had been that much batter in the bowl. Her face took on a pained expression as she glanced down at herself, and then back to the now almost empty bowl on the counter. She took a deep breath, realizing she would have to start over again, and then moved to grab yet another bowl from the cupboard, very glad she had checked ahead of time to make sure there was a second cake mix handy.
This time, I'm mixing it by hand!
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Kim scrapped the bottom of the bowl, satisfied that she had gotten enough of the lumps out of the second batch of cake mix that it wouldn't hurt anything. That was when she realized a little problem she hadn't considered.
Hmm… forgot the oven is already taken up… a little higher than on the cake directions… aww, it should be fine, so long as I pull it out early!
Opening the door, Kim slid the cake in beside the roast. Satisfied, she turned back to the potatoes.
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As Kim finished up the potatoes, a strange odor assailed her nostrils. Quickly rushing to the oven, grabbing a pair of oven mitts off the stovetop, she yanked the door open. She was disheartened by what she found. The cake had not only failed to rise, it had also started to blacken on the top. Removing it quickly from the oven, she placed it on the stove, inspecting it.
It didn't look as bad as she had initially feared as she poked at the top with a fork. Grabbing a plate, she slowly worked a knife around the edges, trying to loosen it without damaging the cake itself. When she felt she had worked it loose enough, she flipped the pan over a waiting plate. It didn't fall out. Kim began working the knife as delicately as she could under the cake, trying to pry it loose. With a quick twist of the wrist, it came loose, though not in the manner Kim had hoped. Most of the cake landed on the plate, but sections of blackened pastry remained stuck to the bottom of the pan, almost as if taunting her. With a moan, Kim threw the pan in the sink, and flipped the cake back over.
Knowing not to press her luck, she had decided to go with store-bought prepared icing, and breathed a little easier as she could cover the worse spots with just a little extra to help remove any burnt taste. When she was satisfied, and having run out of icing, Kim took another look at it. It wasn't perfect, but with the icing it at least looked presentable. A sigh of relief escaped her lips, as she put the cake in the fridge to cool, and set about finishing everything else.
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Kim had just finished getting the potatoes and vegetables ready to go when she realized she hadn't checked on the roast in a while. Grabbing the oven mitts, she pulled open the oven door and lifted the lid on the roasting pan. She could instantly smell the faint trace of burning, and pulled the pan right out of the oven to take a better look. The outside looked fine, looked better than fine in fact, and Kim tried to shift the roast to see where the problem was. It didn't move. Shifting it more forcefully, she felt it move, and was shocked to see that pieces from the bottom of the roast remained in the bottom of the pan. Scraping them up, she quickly found the source of the burnt smell; the entire bottom of the roast was blackened.
She grabbed the recipe off the table, wiping away some cake mix that remained on it, and checked everything over again. She almost wanted to scream as she read the top part of the sheet. She had forgotten to put any water in the pan. Grabbing a cup, she ran some water and dumped it into the roasting pan, and then put the roast back into the oven.
Frustrated, Kim threw the mitts back where she had found them, and quickly put the pots with the vegetables and potatoes on to cook. Rubbing her temples, she glanced up at the clock, and realized Ron would be here shortly. With a final grunt, she decided that this would be a good opportunity to clean up a bit, and headed quickly for the shower.
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Kim stepped out of the shower feeling greatly refreshed. It had taken longer than expected to get all the cake batter out of her hair, and Kim was just happy to feel clean again. She wrapped the towel around her and opened the bathroom door just in time to hear the smoke alarm go off.
Eyes widened as she ran to the kitchen, half expecting anything at this point. The oven mitt she had casually tossed, lit on fire, was not one of them though. Grabbing the glove, she tossed it quickly into the sink, running water over it. When she saw the fire was out, she looked at the glove and winced. It was thoroughly ruined. She placed it on the table, and turned back to the stove, trying to find out how it had happened. She quickly found that the element she thought was for the carrots had been the wrong one, and she had turned on the fourth element, where the one oven mitt had been resting. Turning on the right one, Kim could feel her frustration building further.
That was the cue for the potatoes to boil over. Water streamed from the sides of the pot lid as it began to over boil violently. Kim tried grabbing the lid off the pot, but jerked back as the lid, quite hot, manage to burn the tips of her fingers quite successfully. Grabbing the remaining mitt, Kim grabbed for the lid again, and tossed it into the sink. The boiling subsided slightly, and Kim turned off the heat to that element. As she looked into the pot, she saw half the water had boiled away, and stirring the potatoes revealed those on the bottom had blackened.
Kim had had enough!
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Ron had decided to head over early, just in case anything was going wrong. As he approached the house, he sighed in relief that there was no billowing smoke and no emergency vehicles. Always a good sign in his opinion, especially after the incidents at home ec. He was just coming up the walkway when a loud, piercing scream assailed his ears. Instantly jumping into action, Ron bolted through the door, and headed straight for the kitchen.
"KP, are you…" Ron paused as he took the sight before him in. Cake batter covered everything, and the oven mitt on the table had definitely seen better days. The stove was a complete mess, and he could still smell the odor of smoke and charring in the air. But what really froze him was the sight of Kim, wrapped only in a towel and still damp, as she sucked on the burnt tips of her fingers, stamping her foot repeatedly in frustration.
He would have laughed if he wasn't in such shock. Taking a deep breath to center himself enough to speak, he found the words he needed. "Umm… KP… maybe you should let me sort this out, while you get ready?"
Kim just looked at him in frustration. "No… I promised to cook you a meal for your birthday, and I plan to finish it. It wouldn't be me cooking if I had you help."
Ron tried his best to look away, but he had a great deal of difficulty doing that. "Umm… maybe you should at least get dressed?"
Kim's eyes widened as she looked down, and Ron could see the blush went a little further than her face. "Oh God… I… I'll be right back!"
Kim dashed from the room, quickly heading upstairs, and Ron took another deep breath to compose himself. "Well, that was definitely a birthday surprise!"
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Ron took a bite of the roast, trying not to show how much he was struggling to chew it. He was awfully glad he had been able to whip up a gravy quickly to help soften it up.
"So… how is it?"
Ron swallowed quickly. "It's good KP."
She looked at him expectantly. "You're not just saying that?"
He shook his head quickly. "No, I mean it, it's good!" He took another bite, and winced as he felt one of his teeth shift on him while trying to chew."
Kim's face fell. "You don't like it."
Ron shook his head again. "No, it's just… it's the thought that counts!"
"Which is another way of saying it sucks!"
Ron took her hand in his before she could say anything more. "It could be better, yes, but you tried. Just… when we get married, how about I do the cooking, OK?"
Kim's face brightened at that. "When? You've thought about that?"
Ron almost choked as realization set in. "Well… I mean… I guess I have… I mean… I just can't see you not in my life, you know?"
Kim smiled as she leaned in closer to him. "I know what you mean!"
The sound of the back door opening and her mother's voice interrupted their moment. "Kimmie, we're home early, and… KIMBERLY ANNE POSSIBLE, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY KITCHEN?"
Kim just dropped her head to the table, planting her forehead squarely on the wood. "Oh crap!"
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Author's Notes – This goes out to all those people who try their best, but still manage to burn water (don't laugh… OK, laugh… it happens, both my brothers have done it)!
I'd like to thank the following for their reviews;
Pwn Master Paladin – Anything that can take our minds off that evil cliffie has got to be good!
Classic Cowboy – I agree with you there. I think I just extended the story an extra chapter because of that!
MrDrP – Great to hear! I can never plan humour, it always comes out wrong, but when it just hits you like that…
Campy – Oh come on, this is the prequel, before all that dark stuff starts. I want to keep it lighter and more in keeping with the show, slowly develop it to mesh with my stories. It's had its serious moments, but this one was just a fun walk in the park, while establishing when Drakken and Shego broke free. Besides, if you had the heads up on what I had planned for my later stories, you wouldn't doubt me for a second! I think stories 4 and 6 will make you particularly happy!
Worker72 – Ahh, but look at it from her angle. All she heard was they were getting together, and that he would lie to her. Then the tracking chip gets deactivated… it does look suspicious.
Ace Ian Combat and charizardag – I plan to, don't worry!
Momike – One a day isn't enough for you? Geez, what does it take to please people?
Commander Argus – Yeah, it disturbs me a little, considering how old she is and how old he is, but it does sometimes work. I wouldn't do it though.
Matri – Yup, did my hardest to keep them as real in their reactions as possible, while still maintaining the full humour.
the Desert Fox – Yeah, it was a little obvious, but it did surprise some. And you're right on the episode. Lugre? Do you really think he'd throw money in on something like that?
ANIME FAN ANGUS – Well, it's sure going to give Ron nightmares!
mattb3671 – Ohhh… I was counting on Nooni… what will I do now? Ah well, I'll just have to make do.