It Finally Happened: Part XIX
"KP, I don't know if I can walk another step."
"Keep going, Ron. If you fall over I'll land on top of you and neither of us is going to move."
Somehow Ron managed to get his keys out as they made it up the last step. He still fumbled for the lock set into the red door. He needn't have bothered. The porch light winked to life and the door swung inwards in the hand of a rather ticked off Doctor James Timothy Possible.
He stared down at the two teens, fixing Ron with a steely glare of parental disapproval. "I see now that lifting your curfew may have been a bit premature, Kimmie-cub." He said, crossing his arms as the two teens filed inside. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"
"I don't…yawn…know Dad. I stopped looking at my watch about three."
"Well, it's four thirty, young lady, and while I know I can trust the two of you to behave, people notice things like the two of you showing up this time of the morning. Believe me, people will talk and when people start talking about things like that, all sorts of other attention starts falling on you."
If finally dawned on Kim's sluggish mind that her father thought they were just then coming in from their weekly 'big night out.' "Hello, Dad. Have you even noticed we're not wearing the same things we were before we left for our date?" She bloused the legs her olive cargos for emphasis.
James stopped, his mouth open as if to speak. They had indeed left the house at seven the night before, Kim dressed in a casual top and a skirt, Ron in his usual red jersey. Now they were both dressed in filthy mission gear. "Oh, uh, sorry…well…how much did the mission cut into your date then?"
"They didn't even bring our sodas to the table when Wade rung in."
"Oooh, not good. Sorry. What happened."
"Belize, Monkey Fist, Ron freaks out about the monkey ninjas, I get tied up, he goes all mighty monkey…"
"The usual?"
"The usual." She eyed the empty coffee pot and the long, inviting couch in the family room, weighing her options. Ron had already decided, taking up a position on the couch, probably asleep in the most technical sense long before he actually managed to lay down and curl up in an almost fetal position. I can't believe this, we are actually out of shape she thought.
The mission call had actually been a big surprise. The majority of June had flown past with little more than a couple local calls for assistance. When the Kimmunicator had gone off they both thought it was just Wade calling in to report on something like the progress of Drakken's trial or that he'd beat the high score on some game or another.
Instead they had been caught in a position neither would have thought possible only a few months earlier. They weren't ready. They actually had to drive back to Ron's house to get a set of mission gear. Ron's mother looked like she was going to actually freak when Kim walked in with her boyfriend and immediately ran up the stairs with him, as if she was thinking the date was going a little too well for her comfort. She seemed actually relieved when they ran back down five minutes later in black mock turtlenecks. Maybe it occurred to her later that the two of them had just changed clothes in the same room. Their backs had been to each other, but still…
Her father put a hand on her shoulder as he walked past. He apparently had grown used to her acting like an actual teenager instead of a world class hero. Without another word he made his way up the stairs, thankful it was Saturday and would be able to make up some of the sleep he had lost thinking the kids had been abusing the trust he had extended to them. Lack of sleep still didn't keep his logical mind from wondering how he could even say anything if there were no real curfew.
Kim gave up on the coffee pot, focusing instead on a little bit of sleep. Her bed would be soft and comfortable, but that meant at least a quick shower and changing before crawling in, perhaps taking an extra half-hour and winding her up even more than she already was. The other option was the couch. It was comfortable, but nothing like her bed. However, it was right there, ready for her. Plus there was an added bonus. If she could manage to pry him out of his fetal position she could curl up with him, sleeping with him for at least a couple of hours before the Tweebs rocketed downstairs to watch horribly outdated cartoons on TV Trash Heap.
She didn't have to think about it very long. Ron didn't even stir as she straightened out his legs and pulled his hiking boots off. She kicked her own shoes off as quickly as she could, no longer used to the extra weight of the retractable roller skates and the rocket motors in the heels. They were so going to have to do some training and quick. Monkey Fist was thwarted, but got away in the end. Their thorough beating of Shego and Drakken had driven a lot of the worst freaks underground for a while, but Fist's narrow escape wouldn't take long to vibrate through the grapevine. Their unexpected (but very welcome) vacation was about to come to an abrupt end.
Kim put her head on Ron's stomach, stretching out full length beside him on the wide cushions. She tried to hold off sleep, wanting to enjoy being with him, knowing how much she craved the contact with him. Whether it was holding his hand, hugging, kissing or even snuggled up on a blanket to watch the Independence Day fireworks the week before, she reveled in being close to him. As her mind grayed, stealing away her consciousness, she fantasized about having a mission that actually kept them some place overnight. The last time that had happened the had somehow ended up with their foreheads touching together. It had been slightly embarrassing then, neither of them wanting to admit how nice it had felt until they had to admit they were both wide awake. Now she was thinking about a lot more of them touching and being able to use the extra sleeping bag as a pillow.
Just as she was on the edge of true sleep, Ron rolled toward her, throwing an arm over her shoulder. Kim smiled sweetly, giving him the lightest kiss when she felt something moving down between them. Her eyes shot open, thinking somehow his pants had actually managed to open. He had managed to keep them up for the entire mission, so they were due.
She breathed a sigh of relief as Rufus scrambled up onto his human's belly, then up onto the arm of the couch were it was much less likely he was going to be squashed by the young lovers. Ron's pants were still safely buttoned and belted to his waist.
She scooted back down, putting her head back on his stomach, wrapping an arm around his waist as she drifted off to sleep again, mentally trying to make her sleep-deprived mind figure the number of days remaining till her birthday. Not just her seventeenth, which was only a few weeks away, but her eighteenth.
There was a decision to be made then, one she had a strong feeling would fall in her favor.
The smell of coffee was the first thing that registered in her mind, that, and the flickering lights of the big-screen TV across the room. Tim and Jim were sitting in front of it, the sound turned down quite low. That in itself was actually amazing and most likely had far more to do with her mother than any consideration her little brothers had for her.
Ron was still sacked out, dead to the world. Some time during the night he had rolled onto his belly. How he had managed to do that and not wake her up, she had no clue. The small of his back was certainly not as good a pillow as his tummy, but she found she still didn't want to move.
Except if she was going to have any of that wonderful smelling brew, she would have to get up. Mentally she planned her course of attack. More than likely her mother was camped out at the stove, blocking the way to the pot. Her father would be at the kitchen table, his face hidden behind his newspaper. If she was to get herself a cup and get back out she would have to time it perfectly. Mom would have to have her back turned, paying attention to whatever she was fixing for breakfast. Otherwise it was going to either be lecture central of spill city, depending on exactly how much her father had related about the previous evening/early morning.
Only a few minutes went by before the smell itself overpowered her. Gently she extricated herself from Ron. By the time she was up she realized she could have climbed right across him bodily and he wouldn't have awakened. She was extremely thankful he didn't snore.
Jim and Tim shot her identical looks that said there will be payback for this morning's consideration. She returned their grin with one that said don't even think about it, Tweebs!
She made it halfway through the pocket door into the kitchen before she stopped cold.
Nothing was as it should be.
Both her mother and her father were sitting at the table, his usual paper nowhere in sight. The only thing prepared on the counter was a mostly empty pot of coffee. There was likely only enough coffee to mostly fill her mug. That would be just fine, considering Ron much preferred juice in the mornings. Fine, except there was another reason so much coffee was already gone.
There were two more people sitting at the table across from her parents. Their backs were to her but she knew their dark blonde hair anywhere.
"Oh, good morning Kimmie." Her mother said cheerfully. "Why don't you go wake up Ron and get cleaned up. We're all going out to breakfast.
"Hi Kim." Gene and Jean Stoppable said in unison.
Kim didn't know whether to be worried or pleased that all four parents were in such a good mood. At least it meant the two of them weren't about to get a dressing down for the late return. Then again, all of them together did not always bode well. She was with Ron, she preferred 'well boding.'
Aware that four sets of eyes set into oddly cheerful faces were watching her every move, she poured the remains of the pot into her mug, only filling it about three quarters full. Automatically she refilled the maker, starting a fresh pot (if only she could handle the rest of the kitchen so easily!)
She took half her cup down in one gulp, not even bothering to taste it. The brew was strong, which suited her just fine. The last couple years she had come to prefer her coffee black, that being the easiest to come by and the easiest to drink when all you wanted was the buzz.
Ron, on the other hand, was not a person anyone wanted getting all wired up. When he did drink coffee there was more milk and sugar in it than the brew itself. That was just as well, considering the disproportionate effect caffeine had on his system. Throw in the three to four spoonfuls of sugar he would put in it and you had the recipe for a buzz-monster.
Waking him up from such a sound slumber was not going to be easy. She looked at the clock on the wall. It was almost eight. Four hours of sleep after reaching the point of near total exhaustion was refreshing to her, but Ron would probably take all the way through breakfast and on to lunch time before he was firing on all cylinders.
"Ron. Time to get up." She pulled on his shoulder, managing only to make him roll onto his back.
"Mmmm…smack…KP, why don' you rub my back some more…snorezzzzzzz." He muttered, never once opening his eyes.
Kim crossed her arms, looking down at her sleeping boyfriend. Need to sleep aside, this could spell real trouble if he got this way on a mission. He needed to be more like her, able to awaken and function within minutes.
"Ron, wake up!" she commanded.
"Honey…snort…hit the snooze bar…badical…thanks." This time he rolled onto his side, putting his back to her, burying his face in the pillow.
"Let us try." Jim and Tim had abandoned the TV during the commercials.
"Ron…Rufus is…" Tim started.
"…eating your Nacos." Jim finished.
Ron sat up so fast you would have thought his neck would snap. Alert brown eyes found and fixed the still-snoring rodent with an icy glare. It took a few seconds, but the fact they had not been to the newly re-opened restaurant in a couple days finally sunk in.
"Ron, go upstairs, get some fresh clothes and hit the downstairs shower. Your 'rents are here. Something's up."
"Aw, man. This was our Saturday to go to Temple together with them. I bet they're ticked."
"I don't know Honey…"
"Honey!" Jim and Tim almost shrieked, launching immediately into kissy-face sounds. Ron buried his face in his hands, sitting back down on the couch.
"See, this is why we only use those kinds of names IN PRIVATE." He said into his hands.
"Sorry. I was going to say they all seem really, really chipper. That's got me worried."
"Oooo. Not good, not good at all." He looked around her, trying to see into the kitchen.
"Get a move on, buster, I think they might have found a breakfast buffet you haven't been banned from yet, so the faster we get cleaned up, the faster we find out what the sitch is." She pulled him up, shoving him toward the stairs.
"Maybe if we helped each other get clean, it'd go faster." He shot her his goofiest grin.
"Sorry, honey, maybe your brain is short-circuiting. ALL of our parents are in this house."
"S'alright, KP. I'm a guy, it's what we do."