Where You Hang Your Hat: Part IV
"Good morning!"
Kim blinked back sleep as the figure leaning over the end of the bed pulled back the curtains over the side of the bed. It took her a couple of moments to remember she was in Ron's bed instead of her own. A light snoring sound told her that her bedmate had yet to be awakened by the bright light streaming in. The previous evening's storms had already disappeared wherever dark clouds fled to when they were done dumping their soggy load on their hometown, leaving the morning bright and blue.
Realizing that Ron's mother was in the room gathering their dirty clothes from the floor, Kim did a quick check of herself. It used to be that Jean would never actually come into his room when it was occupied, but the last couple times they had been there she simply came in unannounced. Fortunately, she was still wearing the short t-shirt and gym shorts she usually used for pajamas at his house in the summer. Slowly it occurred to her that they had both gone to bed early and were quickly asleep, except for the unexpected call she had gotten around midnight. At least she was spared the embarrassment of the last time she had spent the night in there. That morning, both of them were already awake and enjoying what she liked to refer to as 'a little wake-up call' when his mother appeared.
Jean Stoppable had pulled an apparent complete one-eighty on how she viewed their relationship after they had become engaged. For the longest time Kim had thought the woman was just as old-fashioned as her father, but came to realize her earlier distrust had much more to do with the nature of her interest in her then-only child. Once it was clear they were deeply committed for the long haul, she was as welcome as any other family member.
"What time is it?" She got up on her elbows, careful not to disturb the covers in case Ron had chosen to forego any sort of night clothes, as he often did during the warm months since they had taken to sharing a bed each night.
"It's a little past seven." Jean said cheerily. "Do you two want breakfast? Gene is downstairs having his usual bagel, but I can make something if you're hungrier than that."
"That'll be good, please and thank you." She let her head fall back on the pillow as her soon-to-be mother in law left the room, carefully closing the door behind her. Thoughts of the day and night before came rushing back to her as she rubbed her forehead and eyes.
They had looked at two more apartments before going to the steak house for dinner, then they wandered aimlessly around the Upperton Galleria, more just to be different than anything else. For the most part, the more upscale mall still had the same set of stores as the Middleton Mall, with a few much more expensive ones thrown into the mix, but they weren't there so much to shop as to have some time to quietly think about things.
So far, nothing they had seen was appropriate for them. The last two places, while nice, were just too expensive to even consider unless Ron was able to tap into more of his money. She was sure there was enough, but he had learned his lesson the hard way with his funds on several occasions. Even though he was technically a millionaire, Ron had flip-flopped completely the other direction, becoming something of a skin-flint, with the one exception of what he did for her. He didn't want to dip any further into his trust fund than absolutely necessary, a fact that pleased his father immensely.
Kim had taken over driving after the mall, taking a more roundabout route through the hills instead of simply getting onto the interstate. In the end, they took almost a full hour to get back to Middleton instead of the usual twenty minutes. Even then, she ended up driving around town before heading back to the suburb where both of their homes were. Since the car ran on a nearly inexhaustible cold fusion cell, it wasn't like they were wasting highly expensive gas or spewing out pollutants doing so.
It wasn't until she put the thing in park that she realized she was at Ron's house instead of hers. It was pushing eleven o'clock, so she just shrugged it off to being preoccupied and they both went upstairs to sleep.
Ron must have been feeling much the same as her. Normally he would feel a little frisky when they switched where they were spending the night. Instead they climbed into bed almost wordlessly and went to sleep with just a goodnight kiss.
She was about to doze back off, despite the fact his bed was nowhere near as soft as hers and was a little lumpy to boot. Suddenly her eyes snapped open as she remembered the call from her father. At the time she was kind of tweaked for being awakened from a deep, comfortable sleep, but with her mind rested she came to realize just what their actions may have looked like.
Kim sat up again, nudging Ron by the shoulder. "Ron, come on, wake up."
He rolled onto his back and looked at her. One hand went to the small of her back as he stretched under the covers. "Morning, babe. Want a little wake up call?"
"Not now." She swung her legs out of the bed. She felt around with her feet before she realized once again she was not in the room she was accustomed to. There was a pair of slippers there, but they were probably shoved under the bed or sitting in the bottom of his closet since it had been a couple weeks since they had slept there.
She did a few stretching exercises that she tried to do every morning when she could. They certainly helped when she had been sleeping in a strange bed. She sometimes wondered why, when they were supposedly trying to split their time between both their homes, they usually simply stayed at her house. One of the reasons had to be the bed. Even after a couple years, the mattress on Ron's full bed just wasn't so well broken in, and where it had been, it was in the middle, since he had the habit of gravitating there when he was left alone. In order to squeeze the larger bed into the room, it was also shoved up against the wall where his window was. Since they had already 'decided' which side of the bed they would take (it was never a question that was ever actually asked, they just started one way and it stuck) that put Ron up against the wall. That in itself was fine with her, but if he ever had to get up during the night, he had a tendency to climb over her, making darn good and sure she was just as awake as he was.
All in all, she was a great deal more comfortable sleeping in her own bed, even if she needed him by her side to fall asleep.
With no classes to go to, Ron had fallen quickly out of his habit of rising quickly. There was nothing like having somebody else with you to make sure you got up on time. They always said they would only sleep in a couple days once exams were done and summer vacation began, but that promise usually was worth just about as much as the paper it was printed on. They had gotten to the point where they shared absolutely everything, and that included bad habits.
He tended to wake up in stages. First he found his way to the middle of the bed in his old worn spot, stretching as he went. Normally Kim liked watching him do that, even if he was in pajamas, or boxer shorts like he was that morning. Ron would never be 'ripped' but his musculature was significantly more defined than it had been in his mid teens. He was best described as strong and lean, having a runner's body. Granted, Kim had to keep a firm hand on the amount of free Bueno Nacho he put away, or he would quickly get his doughy paunch back. She paid lip service to saying she'd love him even if he was actually fat, but she far preferred him the way he was. Then again, if he did follow his chosen profession after college, who would trust a skinny chef?
Oh, they only had to sample what he was capable of.
He finally made his way to the 'exit' side of the bed. (Is it even possible to get up on the 'wrong' side when there was only one way off it?) His big feet hit the floor and he scratched himself in that most manly of ways. He smacked his lips a couple times with his eyes at half mast, then wiped his pillow flattened hair into an approximation of his usual style (or lack thereof.) "What's wrong, KP?"
"I think we may have done something ferociously wrong last night." She confided, sitting down on the floor to stretch her legs and back. It was pretty obvious that she was in at least partial tweak mode as she was throwing herself into the morning mini-workout pretty hard.
"Unless I slept through it, I don't think we even did anything last night. Not that I could actually sleep though that." He quickly amended when she shot him a withering glance.
"That's not what I'm talking about. It's the fact we ended up here."
He scratched his head and started toward the bathroom, wanting to take advantage of the fact she hadn't already beat him to it. He hesitated in the doorway, leaning against the jam. "I kind of figured you came here because you didn't want to deal with Dad P last night."
She let go of her foot and turned to face him. "Was I that obvious?"
"S'ha. We spent twice as long at the steak place as usual, since you normally like to eat, pay and get out so they can turn the table. We drove all the way to the Galleria where you just looked for two hours without trying anything on, then you took the scenic route home but didn't even try to hold my hand, or go to the bluff like we used to. I just assumed you were waiting him out so we could hit the rack before he called or something."
Kim just stared at him for a moment. Sure, he wasn't a quick wit and still had a tendency to be oblivious about some things, but he had hit the nail right on the head.
"He did call. It really didn't dawn on me until this morning, but he was expecting us to come home last night."
"Well, we did, kinda." He said. "Look, you want I should go ahead and hop in the shower, or do you want to share one?"
"We'll share." She got up on her feet and started stripping out of her night clothes. She was still in the underwear she'd worn the whole day before and was feeling somewhat skuzzy. "That wasn't really the point, honey. I know both places are really home to us, but we do spend most of our time there. I should have called after dinner or something. I bet he's upset. Come on, close the door and get done, I need my turn in there."
They picked up the conversation as they scrubbed each other. It was something they had started doing for the romantic aspects of it, but as time went by they found it enjoyable for simpler reasons. For Ron it also gave him a few extra minutes of snooze-bar time since it took just a tad more than half the time for them to get ready in the mornings.
"Rats. Just the old shampoo." Kim griped. She knew Ron wouldn't mind it, but she was so sick of lavender. "What we really should have done was to be home when he got off work so we could talk to him about it. I think that's what Mom was trying to get at on the phone, but I was just too upset about it for that to sink in."
Ron was rubbing the soap all over his scalp. She couldn't understand how he could do that, but it seemed to work for him. "KP, don't be so hard on yourself. I saw first hand how put out you were yesterday. I don't blame you a bit for wanting to stay away for the night."
"Well, I do. Her in the light of day, it feels like I turned into a little girl and ran away just because I didn't want to face him."
"To borrow one of your phrases; so not the drama. We're not quite a mile away as the crow flies, and we're almost twenty one. It's not like you broke curfew or stayed out all night with a strange boy, and what if it had been a mission? If it wasn't for the fact he called last night I bet that's what he would have figured."
"Unless he called Wade first and found out we weren't on one. You didn't hear his voice last night. He sounded just like a little boy that just lost his puppy."
They switched places so Kim could rinse out her hair. "We could drive over to the space center, talk to him." He suggested.
Kim opened the door and stepped out, toweling off her hair and wrapping it up. "I don't know, Ronnie. I'd hate to mess up his day if things are worse than we're thinking."
He followed her out, shutting off the water. "I don't see how they could. Listen, KP, all he did was suggest it was time to start looking. Maybe you're reading way too much into it. Plus, have you considered that maybe he was right? On top of that, what if this is something that he's really given a lot of thought and he really doesn't want us to go, but he knows we eventually have to. It's not like I want to still be living there when we do get married. What if our townhouse isn't ready in time? I never quite envisioned carrying you across the threshold into that house, as much as I love the place."
"All the more reason we all need to sit down like adults and talk about it."
They both stared at each other while they brushed their teeth. A couple towel clad bumps later they came to one decision. "We most definitely need a bigger bathroom."
"Yup." He said with a mouthful of toothpaste foam. "What's your folks' bathroom look like?"
She paused to think and suddenly realized in all the years he had been coming into her home he really hadn't ever seen it. "It's bigger than mine. They had it done when I was about eight or so. There's a big garden tub in there, and they've got two sinks." To illustrate her point she gave him another light bump with her backside.
With all the other morning rituals out of the way, despite the lingering anxiety over their current situation, they finally gave each other a proper good-morning kiss before getting dressed. Kim followed it with a long hug, burying her face in his shoulder. Even though his final growth spurt had been somewhat sudden when he was seventeen, she still though it so odd that he was half a head taller than her. Not that she was complaining. What she did have to complain about, though, was the fact he hadn't shaved in three days by that point, though she kept it to herself for the time being. Still, he would look so funny with a beard.
Gene was sitting at the kitchen table when they came down, doing a very good impression of Kim's Dad by hiding behind a copy of The Examiner. The similarity ended when he folded it up and put it down as they approached. James Possible wouldn't surrender his copy until he had read it cover to cover at least once.
"I thought I heard the two of you come in last night. To what do we owe this honor?" he smiled warmly at the two. Kim gave him a light kiss on the cheek as she sat down and picked out a blueberry bagel from the bowl in the center of the table.
"It's a long story." Kim explained, cutting it in half and putting part of it on Ron's plate.
"Well, I'm not needed in the office today, so I've got plenty of time."
Kim glanced at Ron, who was already busy spreading chunky peanut butter on his breakfast. For an instant she wondered how she could love a man who didn't like creamy. They were doomed to buying two different jars for the rest of their lives.
"I'm afraid I was a little upset with Daddy last night, so we decided to stay here."
"Everything okay at home?" He asked, concerned. "I noticed the two of you were pretty quiet last night. Jean didn't have to get up and calm Catherine down this time."
Kim flushed red. Almost a month ago they had gotten lost in the moment and the next thing they knew there was a two and a half year old demonstrating who the real queen of lung power was. The Stoppables had taken it all in stride but Kim wasn't able to look them in the eyes for a couple days. "We were kinda tired, so we slept pretty hard all night."
"That's good to hear, but it still doesn't tell me what's on your mind. What were the two of you doing all day. I drove by your house and I didn't see your car in the garage."
"Well, that's part of what's going on. We spend the better part of the day apartment shopping."
Gene looked at her for about a minute as the gears clicked into place. "This is kind of sudden. I didn't think the two of you were going to do that until your townhouse was ready." He was part and parcel of the process Ron was going through getting the place built. Since he was the trustee, he was the one who had to free up money when it was needed to speed the process along. In the past, he had been as tight fisted with the fund as Ron was with his cash, but buying a home was what he considered a wise use of the money, so he was quite pleased with the progress of the project.
"It's sudden because yesterday morning, Daddy said it was time for us to look for one."
He nodded, having already guessed at the real impetus of their search. "Being quite honest with you, Kimberly, I have to say, I think he might be right."
"You do?" She paused between bites of her light repast, staring at her future father-in-law.
"Yes. I'm happy to let the two of you stay here as long as you think you need to, and I'm sure it would have been nicer if you had waited until the wedding, but let's be realistic. Ron's mother and I have talked about this. You've been engaged for almost three years, you spend almost every waking moment together outside of your classes, and now you spend all your nights together. The only reason we haven't said anything is because you spend most of your time at your house.
"Really, if you think about it, it's not really fair for the two of you, and it's not fair to the rest of us in this situation. Neither family is about to have an empty nest. Heaven knows, at this rate I have to deal with this for another eighteen years, if I last that long." He patted his chest. His doctor was growing more and more concerned about his heart and it was likely he would have to undergo some kind of procedure in the near future. That was one of the reasons Kim and Ron were already CJ's god-parents.
"I think you're right, Gene." Kim agreed. "It's just, it seemed to come out of the blue, and I know it sounds kind of selfish, but I love my room."
"I'm sure you do. I remember back when the two of you first got engaged. Ron talked about how the two of you might get a place together your senior year. Well, that's a couple months off, you know."
Ron polished off the last of his bagel half and started to reach for another, only to have his hand lightly slapped by Kim. "Wow, guess it hasn't sunk in yet we're going to be seniors again. BMOC – Booyah!"
"You know it's not going to be like it was in high school, honey. We're going to be working harder than we ever had to before." She chided, tearing into an orange. "So, like I said, we've been looking, but the only places we found we like either cost way too much or they wouldn't allow us to keep Rufus."
Gene patted her hand. "Don't worry about the cost, though don't get carried away. It's only temporary and you don't need the Taj Mahol. It took us three months to find this place when we moved here from Denver. You don't have to jump at the first place that strikes your fancy. There's always some little detail you will overlook and you'll end up miserable because of it. Take your time. Even if James gets a wild hair and actually kicks you out, which I think is just about as likely as my boss is going to show up on my doorstep and make me a vice president, you will always have a place here. Look, just go home this afternoon and tell him that you took his advice and went looking. That sounds like all he was asking."
Ron leaned on the table with his elbows. "Well, at least I hope we can find a place with cable."
Both Gene and Kim rolled their eyes.
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