It Finally Happened Part II
There was no sound, no sound at all. Even the clock with its digital face stood in mute testimony to the tension in the Possible family room.
Kim and Ron sat side by side on the couch, a position they had been in many, many times before, though in a much more…pleasant…sitch. At least they had been allowed to change out of their formal attire. Kim had first been taken upstairs by her mother and had changed into her usual sleepwear, an old crop top and sweat pants. (For a girl who might be summoned from sleep at any time it was practical to wear something both comfortable and wearable in public.) While Kim was changing out of her dress, her mother brought Ron a set of clothing as well. (In twelve years, several complete changes of clothing, not counting prepared sets of mission clothes, had accumulated at the Possible home.) If Gene had not been there she would have brought him a set of pajamas, put on her doctor's hat and marched him into the guest room for at least several hours of sleep.
The fact the two of them were now dressed in comfortable attire did nothing to relieve their current state of stress.
Anne Possible made it clear even before the kids had returned from changing she would have no part in what was to come. As they sat on the long, built in sofa of their family room, she made her way upstairs into Kim's room. She wasn't snooping, she wanted to see something for herself. In fact this was something she had discussed in depth with Kim and she had her daughter's permission to do exactly what she was doing. It was part of a bond of trust between the two women. She opened a drawer on her nightstand and took a small jewelry box out. Kim wasn't much of a jewelry girl, only wearing earrings or a necklace from time to time, but pretty baubles were not what was stored in that particular box. She took the round object out, opened it and counted, breathing a sigh of relief that it was correct. Carefully she replaced the box and closed the drawer. Whether or not Kim needed them right now or not, there was one less worry on her mind.
Kim didn't know what she was more afraid of, what her father was going to do to her or what he was going to do to Ron. It mattered quite little that precisely all they had done was kiss and hold hands. It didn't even matter that it was he father's strict upbringing of her in this regard that had kept the whole affair at that level. No, she had just spent the entire night out with a boy.
No, scratch that. Ron was not a boy. Up until six hours ago he had just been Ron, excluded from all the strictures James Possible had placed on Kim's suitors. He had always been her best friend, an almost genderless being in her father's eyes. But that wasn't why Kim would not think of him as a boy. He was a Man and that was how she would always think of him. He had proven it to her beyond anything else the world could show her, beyond his small stature, beyond the signature on his Bar Mitzvah certificate even beyond his being filled with childlike wonder, he was a man.
Her man.
She wasn't expecting the double barreled attack of both her father and Gene Stoppable. They must have planned their assault on the two new lovers in advance. Both of them were sitting in individual chairs looking at their children. They didn't look angry, they didn't actually look like anything. Kim never knew her father was capable of such a rock-steady poker face.
James was deeply conflicted. Over the years Ron had been like a third son to him. He had never imagined this turn of events, even when his Kimmie-cub had suddenly announced her big date with him at the Middleton Days festival. He had assumed it was just another 'not a date, we're just going as friends' thing. Even when she came downstairs in that stunning dress, it went clear over his head. Ron and Kim had always acted much more like a brother and sister than lov…
His mind couldn't complete that word. Not yet, not where it concerned his little girl.
If he could just get past the visions that were playing out in his head, his imagination taking the sight of the two of them holding hands, kissing, then whispering something he could not make out as they drove up, and progressing down a road his adult mind saw as the next series of actions that young, hormonally charged not-quite-adults were wont to take.
Gene was fighting back the urge to smile. He had a great deal of affection for Kim. She was a beautiful and popular girl who had lifted a great burden from him over the years. He feared that his son would be a social outcast like him, doomed to repeat his failures at that age. The fact she stuck by him despite his, well, weirdness, earned her a great deal of respect in his mind. The fact she now was willing to give him a chance at love, well, the very prospect filled his heart with joy. It would take some doing to convince Jean, his wife, about all that, but it should be worth it. He was scared the first thing out of her mouth would be 'she's nice, but I sure wish he would find a nice Jewish girl.' That didn't matter to Ron and by extension didn't matter to him but Jean was much more traditional than either of the Stoppable men.
James finally took a deep breath, letting it out slowly, fixing his daughter with a steely eyed gaze. "Kimberly Anne, at exactly what time did your 'mission' officially end?"
She glanced at Ron, who was as perplexed by the question as she was. He gave her the slightest of shrugs and she turned to face her father's glare once more. "I suppose when we first got back this morning, just a little before one."
"I see." He paused, taking another breath, obviously fighting to remain calm and logical. "Help me understand something. You left here last night to rescue Erik from Drew. When you came home, I simply assumed you were going to make up the time you lost on your date. I was a little upset at the time that you didn't actually ask permission to do that, but I was willing to let it slide since this was your Junior Prom. The next thing I know it's three o'clock in the morning, so I start calling you, but you're Kimmunicator is turned off. So I call the school, and the only people there to answer the phone don't speak English very well. Do you know what I finally had to do?"
"You called Wade?" She asked, sheepishly.
"Yes, I called his mother, waking her up so she could wake him up. He finally got a lock on your position. I don't know how, unless your Kimmunicator can't be fully turned off, but he was able to tell us you were up on Logging Camp road. I won't tell you what kind of reputation that spot has, though I'm sure you can guess.
"Now here is where you and Ronald can help us. I was expecting to see you with Erik, yet when we pulled up, well, you know what we saw. From what I saw, that was a fine boy you were with last night. While I would normally approve of you being with Ronald, considering the state you were in I just can't understand this turn of events."
"Daddy, Erik wasn't real."
"If that was the case, then you should have called me or had Ronald bring you home. Leaving one date, even if he wasn't treating you right, just to end…"
"Daddy, I mean he really wasn't real, as in he wasn't even human. Do you remember those robot goons Drakken used against us when we rescued you?"
"Uh, sure." He tilted his head, slightly confused by what his daughter was telling him.
"Erik was one of those…things. They're called Synthodrones and Drakken built him to play me. I didn't leave him at the dance, Rufus destroyed him," She reached out and took her new boyfriend's hand. "and Ron saved me."
James watched his daughter, looking at Ronald with such devotion, such love in her eyes. It was something he had never seen in her before. Not with that Mankey fellow, not with Erik. He had not seen her lit up like that since…
…since she met Ronald twelve years ago.
He had been prepared to read them the riot act. Still, he had to do something. Rules had been broken and even if they were for the right reason, a fair punishment had to be levied. He had to remain tough, but fair.
"I can't come down on you since I didn't set a curfew for you this time, but you didn't give me the chance. You didn't ask. Nor did you call to tell us where you were. That is excusable when you are on a mission, but by your own admission, that ended long before that. You're grounded for a week." Satisfied, he looked over at Gene, who smiled back at him.
"James, can I speak to you for a moment."
He nodded and both men went to the kitchen. Anne was waiting there for them, nursing a cup of coffee. Without being asked she poured cups for both of them. "Well, James, do I need to get a pressure cuff for you?"
"Huh?"
"Well, judging from the lack of yelling and crying I take it that all went well?"
Gene answered for him. "I think so. I'm going to ground Ron for pretty much the same reasons James grounded Kim, but I'm planning to make it a 'soft' grounding. Besides, I think the two of them are going to be called on quite a bit over the next few days, considering the mess those people made. I do think a little time apart before they pursue their relationship will help them get perspective, just in case there's any lingering trouble with this other…boy they have to work through."
"So they are together?" Anne asked, sipping from her cup.
"Almost certainly. I've seen this coming for a long time, the way Ron spoke of her, the way he got when she started dating that thing."
"Thing? That's awfully harsh." She commented, raising an eyebrow at him. Her face turned to shock when James told her exactly what Erik turned out to be.
"Gene, with your permission, I think I need to have a long talk with Ronald…in a few days or so."
"Oh, most certainly. I think that would do him a world of good."
They spent a good thirty minutes talking about their children. The clock struck seven and they all got up to chase Kim up to bed and for Gene to take his son home.
Both of them were sound asleep on the couch, their shoulders touching, their heads leaned up against each other's, their hands still clenched together. Anne pulled out a blanket and covered them up.
"I think I'll ground Ronald when he gets home." Gene said.
"Do you need a lift?" James asked him.
"No, I think I'll walk it. James, you've raised a fine daughter. Trust in that, trust in her."
"I'll do my best." He said as the elder Stoppable started down the sidewalk, turning for home.