KP – One Oh One: Part XXXVII – Present Time

Before she opened her eyes, Kim stretched, trying to work the kinks out of her body. Even being in tip-top shape, sleeping in a strange bed sometimes left her stiff, especially when she only had a few hours sleep. It had been close to one when she finally came back with Ron, and it wasn't because they had found some private place to spend time alone either. As they walked back to the retirement complex they heard the singing again. It turned out it wasn't just carols they heard, but hymns. A local church was just starting their Christmas Eve candlelight service. It used to be Kim's family never missed going to theirs, though in the past couple years they mysteriously stopped going. Perhaps it was just a change in tradition, Kim didn't know. Of course, two years ago they all ended up in the arctic that night with Drakken and Shego, though that shouldn't have influenced the decision the past Christmas.

Ron's hand tightened on hers and he just turned down the sidewalk toward the church doors. They were greeted with smiles and were handed bulletins and simple white candles with hand protectors. He may have been Jewish, but because of Kim, Christmas was as important to him as it was to her. He sang right along with her, knowing all the words to the joyous hymns, having sung them most of his life. If anyone noticed the designs on his sweater, they never once mentioned it. The service finally ended right around midnight with the singing of Silent Night.

They were just plain wrong about Nana having already gone to bed. She was waiting in the living room for them, looking all the world like her Dad did back when she first started dating. She was sitting on the couch in her housecoat, the cane she had been using of late close at hand. It looked like she was about to say something until she noticed the church bulletins in Ron's hand. They were very likely about to have their ears bent a little save for that, making Kim glad he had wanted to go.

The only fly in the ointment of Nana still being up at that hour was she didn't get much of a goodnight kiss from Ron. They managed a chaste peck under her watchful gaze, then took turns changing into their sleepwear.

Kim turned to her side, nuzzling deeper into the pillow. It wasn't as large or soft at the ones she was used to on her bed, or part of a stack of smaller pillows like on Ron's, but it was warm and the house was just a bit cool with the sudden resurgence of winter, plus, until either Ron or Nana were up and about there was absolutely no reason to get out of bed, so she just scrunched her eyes a little tighter and relaxed. Soon enough the next semester would start and they would be back to their routine of getting up at six every morning (later if they were together, since there was less drive-time involved.)

That was when she heard the sound.

It was snoring, and even though it wasn't all that loud, it had a sort of insistent quality that rose above the soft hiss of the central air, making its presence known. However, what made it most surprising was the fact she was supposed to be alone. If she heard snoring it had better be Ron sawing logs in the next room. Instead it was coming from the pillow beside her.

She cracked one eye open, catching the interloper in the act. He was in fact in bed with her, the covers pulled up over his bare body, his head sunk down in the pillow, his eyes closed though his face had an expression of pure contentment. The question was, why was he in there with her instead of on the sleeper sofa?

Sitting up, she yanked the covers off his naked body, then put her hands on her hips, staring in mock scorn. He woke up with a start (and a cold rush of air) scratching his head and looking around in confusion.

Kim finally smiled. "A little confused there, Rufus? No, Ron isn't sleeping with me, he's in the living room."

Rufus squeaked a little, trying to get the cobwebs out of his head as well. She pretty much guessed that was what had happened. He was getting so used to them being together he was getting into the habit of staking out his particular part of the bed, principally in the warmest spot, that being between them. She smiled sweetly at him and picked him up, planting a little kiss on his round head.

"Thanks, Rufus."

He cocked his head in confusion and scratched it, wondering exactly what he was being thanked for.

"Thanks for being my cuddle-buddy last night. That's why I got such a good night's sleep, having somebody familiar close by."

That seemed to satisfy him, though once she sat him down he immediately curled back up in the bed. Kim, on the other hand, was up and was going to stay up by that point. She was wearing sweatpants and a long-sleeved T-shirt, so she was presentable outside her room. Quietly she slipped out her door. It was a quarter till eight and the rest of the house was still dead quiet.

Ron was curled up in a sideways fetal position on the sleeper sofa. He somehow managed to kick most of his covers off, but he was wearing his dark blue long pajamas, so he wasn't in any danger of embarrassment. Every so often he would blindly reach out, searching for something on the pillow beside him. Kim wondered if he was looking for her or for Rufus in his sleep. More likely the latter, since the little guy had pretty much slept with him constantly for his entire life. The times Kim had spent with him really only added up to about a fortnight.

She sat down on the edge of the bed bedside him, leaning over and giving him a light kiss on his stubbly cheek. "Wake up, sleepyhead, it's Christmas morning." He voice had a musical quality to it.

He rolled onto his back and blinked. "Wow, Santa came." He said sleepily.

"Oh, how's that?"

Conscious that Nana could appear at any moment, he chose twining his fingers with hers over his first impulse to pull her down to him for a good morning kiss. "He brought me an angel."

"Liar." She grinned at him. "Angels don't have wicked split ends that need combing out or a strong need for coffee."

"How do you know? Maybe that's why angels always seem so chipper, they've always already had their coffee. Plus, I like you with bed-head. It always reminds me of what I want to see first thing when I wake up in the morning. Hey, speaking of the first thing I see, where's Rufus?"

"He's cheating on you. He spent the night with me." She got up, heading for the bathroom.

"Oh, he did? Hey, you're not going to get your shower, are you?"

"No. Why? We are so not taking one together if that's what you're thinking of. I'm just answering the call."

"Nah, I know that's not gonna happen. I've gotta, you know, answer the call myself."

"I'll be out in a jiffy. Turn on the TV, but turn it down low. I want to see if there's a weather forecast. It'd be a shame if this cold snap stays and we didn't get a chance to hit the beach for a little while at least."

He already had the channel by the time she came back. While they waited for the local forecast to roll around they went about folding the bed back into the sofa. I just seemed a little more proper for them to be sitting on a couch in their pajamas than it would on the bed. They stashed the covers in the closet they had come from so he could re-use them later that night.

"High of seventy-five, water temperature sixty. Bit on the cool side, wouldn't you think?" Ron said.

"For swimming, yeah. Not as cold as that pool we found on our last camping trip."

"Yeah. I sure didn't need a cold shower after a dunk in that."

"How often do you need a cold shower?" Kim asked coquettishly.

"Somehow I think if we didn't take our little detour last night I would have needed one. You're right about this place. It's not that different than the park back home, yet every time we're here it's like romance on steroids. Just to think, we were seriously entertaining the idea of going ahead and getting married."

"Ron, that was really a serious discussion. The romance may have lead to it, but that was something we really had to decide for ourselves."

A door opened in the hall. Nana clearly was not a morning person, and being up past midnight waiting for the two of them to come in like they were a pair of fifteen year-olds breaking their curfew didn't help matters.

Kim jumped up and run up to her, giving her a big hug "Merry Christmas, Nana!"

"Merry Christmas to you too, dear, and Happy Hanukkah to you, Ronald, though I know that's already over with."

"Merry Christmas." He responded.

"This reminds me of the first Christmas James and Anne spent with me, except for the fact it was right after they got married and I only lived across town from them." She laughed softly as she took a seat on the sofa beside Ron. "All except the two of you seem a little better behaved."

"Better behaved?" Kim sat down on the opposite side.

"Oh yes. They couldn't keep their hands off each other. I swear, I thought Jonathan was going to have a stroke that morning."

Kim started getting an inkling where the conversation may be headed and her cheeks responded in kind. Ron must have guessed it as well, quickly moving to change the subject. "What was Kim's grandfather like? I can't believe I never got the chance to meet him."

Nana seemed lost in thought for a moment. "I think Jonathan would have liked you."

"I feel a 'but' coming on." Kim said a little pensively.

The older woman nodded. "One of the reasons you and your brothers only saw us at the holidays when he was living was because of your father. I'm afraid he didn't always see quite eye-to-eye with Jonathan, especially when it came to your mother. You see, he was raised in a quite strict Lutheran family, and Anne was a Catholic until she married James. Of course, she converted and joined his church before they got married, but that never sat quite well with Jonathan and that led to some bad blood. I'm afraid he might have made an issue about Ronald being Jewish."

Kim sagged a little, remembering her encounter with Ron's family back at Thanksgiving. She knew all too well how intolerant people could be at times. Nana gently took her granddaughter's hand. "All that aside, he absolutely loved you kids and I do think it is a shame he never got to know Ronald." She turned and looked at him. "Don't think for an instant I feel there is any problem with you two getting married. Kimberly loves you and that's all that matters to me."

She went on. "Jonathan was a big man, much bigger than either of my two boys. He looked a lot like Kimberly's brothers, and judging from the look of them, I'm willing to bet they're going to be big just like him. I met him right after high school, just as I joined the Navy. He was a government man and I didn't know exactly what he did for them until we had been married several years. I found out later that he played a big role in a lot of the missions I ended up on. See, he was what we called a 'spook' back then. While I served our country in a much more open way as a pilot and as part of the underwater demolitions team, he served in ways that had to remain behind the scenes."

She got up, carefully walking across the room to the Christmas tree, taking her time as it was apparent her hip was giving her trouble that morning. For the first time the noticed several gifts had appeared under the tree.

"I was going to give you these last night, but it was so late when the two of you came back from church I thought it best to head on to bed. I was so proud of you two, I thought you were just out to sneak around. It made me so happy that you were actually doing something proper." She sat back down between them, putting a present on each of their laps. "Go ahead, open them."

Kim carefully pulled the bow and ribbon off her box. It was a large, flat box of the type clothing would come in. Instead of ripping it open, she carefully picked the tape apart, slowly revealing the white box underneath. Her mouth dropped open when she pulled the top off.

It was a uniform. There were still lieutenant's bars on the lapel of the tan blouse, with the name "Possible" stitched on the breast. She pulled the top out carefully, respectfully holding it up.

"Nana?"

"That was my last uniform. I resigned my commission when I learned I was pregnant with your father. I want you to have it now."

Kim lowered it back into the box and wrapped her arms around her grandmother, tears starting to roll down her cheeks.

Ron already had his gift open. It was a much smaller box, but he was rendered speechless about what he found inside.

It was all quite old, just like the uniform, but it had not been Nana's. There was a gold watch, some letters and another item that looked like a watch, but instead of being a time piece it had a grid on the large face, with small dials on the side. It looked for all the world like an ancestor of Kim's new wrist Kimmunicator. He pulled that out first, examining it closely.

"I don't think it works any more, but that was Jonathan's. He wore that on missions sometimes. It did not have the range of Kimberly's little radio thing, but it was way beyond it's time. Sometimes he would hint that it contained advanced technology that had been taken from UFOs, but he was known to kid about that kind of thing."

The box titled to the side slightly as Kim looked at the old wrist communicator. She almost wished she had her handheld with her, but that would mean disturbing Wade to run a scan on the old device. Burning curiosity would have to wait, at least for the time being.

Something small rolled out from under the letters. At first Ron didn't notice as he glanced over the hand written notes. Then the sparkle caught his eyes. Gingerly, he picked the smallest object up, holding it up in the morning light streaming through the windows.

It was a simple gold ring.

Kim caught sight of it and almost dropped the communicator. "Nana, is that Grandpa's ring?"

"Yes dear. When he got sick his hands started swelling, so he wasn't able to wear it any more. I meant to have him buried with it, but somehow I forgot it. I didn't find it again until I moved down here. Now I want the two of you to have it. Somehow I think Jonathan would approve."

Kim took the old wedding band as tears started down her cheeks again. When she was just a tiny girl, she would sometimes pull it off her grandfather's hand. It was a large ring, made of white gold, though it completely unadorned. It was big enough that Ron would likely be able to wear it without having it sized.

"If Ronald wears that when the two of you get married, it will be like a part of Jonathan lives on with you. He loved you so much Kimberly. You will wear it, won't you, Ronald?"

"I'd be honored, Nana."

"Well, what are you waiting for, try it on." She prompted.

Ron took it back from Kim, though he hesitated slightly. "I dunno, it doesn't seem proper, at least until…"

"Oh, it's not like you're going to be wearing it all the time. Just try it for size. I know it doesn't mean the two of you are married until the pastor says so."

"Well, the Rabbi. I can't imagine not having Rabbi Katz perform the ceremony." Kim said.

"Gerry? He's still the Rabbi there? He's a good man. All the same, just try it on, Ronald."

He slipped the ring on, marveling at it for a moment. He had dreams where he already had a gold band on his finger, dreams of his future with Kim. Wearing it seemed to bring all those dreams to life for just a moment.

"It fits." He said, holding his hand up for the two women to see.

Nana's smile was huge. She seemed lost in the past for just a moment. "I'm so glad. It's just like it was made for you. You know, you're not that much different from him, well, you are a lot smaller overall…"

"…but he had such big hands."

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