"Rise and shine, Kimmie."
Anne Possible pulled the blinds of her room back, letting the crystal blue morning sunlight in, the glare almost painful as she blinked back sleep. "Wha…what time is it?"
"It's just past eight. Now get up, we're going to go see Nana today." Kim could here the shower running, meaning either Ron or one of her brothers were already ahead of her, the latter probably trying to see if they actually could run out the hot water before she got in.
Kim stretched her arms, sitting Indian style in the bed while her mother made a show of tidying up the room. Unlike her parents, Kim was used to living out of a suitcase or a backpack and hadn't so much as unpacked as she simply pulled what she needed out of her luggage then stuffed it into another bag when it was dirty. It was all Anne could do to keep up with clothes on the floor. One look at Ron's room told her where she picked up that particular habit.
She sat down on the end of the bed while Kim rooted through one of her bags for an outfit for the day. "So, what Earth shattering topics kept you and Ron up till the wee early hours last night?"
"Stuff." Kim shrugged, pulling her yellow T-shirt with the blue star out, along with a pair of knee-length white shorts. She wasn't going to risk having her grandmother trying to cover up her bare midriff with a sweater on a nearly one-hundred degree day. They may have come to an understanding about her missions the last time she was here, but her choice of clothing was still under contention.
"Summer stuff, teenage stuff or couple's stuff?" Her mother asked.
"D"
"D?" she asked, confused.
"D as in 'all-of-the-above.'"
"Oh. So, what were the two of you up to before we all got back early?"
"Um, couple's stuff."
"I see." She narrowed her eyes, smiling slightly. "How long before Ron realized his t-shirt was on backwards?"
Kim's hands shot to her mouth as the tiniest "eep" squeaked out.
"Thought so. You two were careful, weren't you?"
"MOM! We didn't do anything that requires being careful." Kim's voice went from a near shriek to a hiss.
"Kimmie, when we got back last night Ron had his tank top on backwards, your hair was somewhere between where it is now and made up and your bed was a mess at ten o'clock at night. I know it was made because I did it myself. Then this morning Jean realizes that neither of you touched the dinner she made for you. That tells me Ron was either sick or too preoccupied to think of eating, and he seemed fine to me last night."
"Did Daddy see…"
"No, I think he was so relieved to see the two of you on the couch he was oblivious to all the other little clues."
"But Mom, I really mean it, we haven't done anything…we haven't done that yet."
Anne raised one eyebrow at her daughter. "Kim, part of me is wanting to trust you about that, the other is screaming 'bull' at me right now. The last couple days both of you have had a look in your eyes. Your father might not be able to see it, but I sure could. You two had 'next level' written all over your face. Kim, we've talked about this before. I've always told you this would be your decision. If you and Ron are having sex…"
"Mom, I call it making love, but Ron and I haven't done that."
"Then what happened to the bed?"
Kim stood up and whipped the covers back. "Nothing. We got in it for a little while, but we didn't do anything but hold hands."
"And the night before?"
"Mom!"
"Kim, I know you went to his room. So just how long have you two been…"
"Have you listened to a thing I've said Mom? We're still virgins…period. Ron hasn't even gotten to second base, depending on what version of that you know."
"What version do you know?"
Kim shrugged. "I think it's top, inside, but I'm not really sure. Everyone I've ever heard it from has another version."
"That sounds about right to me. There's something you're still not telling me."
She sighed, sensing her mother was not about to let go. She sensed her quarry and was moving in for the kill. "Mom, none of this can leave this room."
"Honey, I swear to you, this is just between you and me and you and Ron. You just have to be honest with me."
Kim took a deep breath, held it for a moment, then let it out before she continued. "We've come close to making love three times now. Actually it's five, but I'm counting the last three nights as one. The first two times were clearly mistakes and it was actually Ron who backed down. We talked about it a lot after that, especially since we almost broke up the second time."
"That was the end of the school year, wasn't it."
"Yes. This time we came to a mutual decision, but we just didn't have the right opportunity. The first night here we were just too tired and we both fell asleep, then the night before last we got a mission call before we, you know. Then last night we got so far as getting into bed."
"What happened? I can't imagine Ron having problems at his age."
"No, Mom, I've snuggled with him enough to know he doesn't have any problems. No, we quite literally chickened out at the last minute. Ron didn't even get his boxers off."
"But you did?"
"Sort of. I made him wait outside while I got in bed. Mom, I'm telling you the truth, we both got so scared all we did was hold hands for a while until we could admit it to each other." She started sounding defensive as her mother's eyes got big as saucers.
"No, I believe you honey, it's just…history is repeating itself. I won't go into any more details but that's exactly what I made your father do."
"Okay, Mom, you can stop there. Bumping up against TMI territory."
"Allright. Now, is this what the two of you pulled the late-nighter about?"
"Some. I think we've said all that needs to be said about this for now."
"Until the 'romance' sweeps you away again?"
"Something like that, but I think after this experience we have a better handle on why we're waiting now, instead of some abstract 'you shouldn't' sort of deal. You're not mad at us, are you?"
"Actually, no. The only thing that bothers me is the sneaking around, but I can put that off to wanting privacy, and there's nothing wrong with that. There is, of course, your father to think of and unlike me he doesn't think this is a decision you're ready to make on your own. I think if it were up to him, he'd be glad if they changed the law and made twenty-one the legal age, but you're still his little girl and, technically, he does have a say-so in this…but no, I'm not angry, in fact I'm proud of you. Whichever way you went about this, it was a decision the two of you made without one forcing the other. Then when you realized it was wrong for you the same thing happened again. That tells me somewhere along the line your father and I did something right, as did the Stoppables."
Kim listened again, hearing only her brothers and her father in the other room. There was no sign of Ron or his parents.
"Where's Ron?" she asked, finally getting off the bed and looking out in the main room.
"Your father got them an all-day tour of the Cape. They left about an hour ago. Don't forget, this is their family vacation too. If you're serious about Ron the way you say you are, there will be plenty of times the two of you can get away on your own, don't begrudge them this. Pretty soon both of you will turn seventeen and I have a sneaking suspicion that by next summer the two of you will go out on your own."
"Daddy's going to freak if we do that."
"I'll work on him. I think if you continue to prove to him he can trust you two, everything will be just fine. Now I think it might be a good thing for you to spend time just with us, especially your father today."
"I will Mom, I promise."
Anne got up off the foot of the bed and picked something up from the nightstand. "You should call Wade too and tell him you're leaving this here in your room. He knows how to get in touch with you if it's really important."
"But how will he find me? The GPS tracking chip in the Kimmunicator is how he knows where I am at any given time."
"Ron has a tracking chip, doesn't he?"
"Yes. That's something we talked about last spring when he finally figured it out. Wade says It's about the size of a grain of rice. It's supposed to be located on the back of his neck."
"Ow, how did…"
"It was put in his food. The chip is programmed to move into position. How it does it, I don't care to think about."
"So, Wade's got Ron chipped and he totally relies on the Kimmunicator to keep track of the most important member of Team Possible?"
"Mom, I'm not the most…what are you saying?"
Anne walked over to her daughter, pulling up her long hair, examining the edge of her hairline. "I can't feel anything back there, but it may be just deep enough to be invisible without a more sophisticated scan."
"Mom, you've had them do MRIs on me before after a rough mission."
"Yes Kim. It's there. I saw it the first time a couple years ago when Shego first knocked you unconscious."
Kim sat back down on the end of the bed, her eyes flitting around like she was searching the floor for something.
"Doesn't feel good, does it."
"I…I don't know. Why didn't I figure that out, it's so obvious."
"Well, since you knew about Ron's chip, you don't have much of a right to be angry at Wade yourself."
"Mom, my brain tells me why I'm not supposed to be mad. I understand the logic, it's just…why wouldn't Wade just up and tell me."
"Honey, with all the brains that boy has, he's still eleven years old. He may know how to build any electronic gadget any one of us could think of, but there are certain things that take wisdom and experience. Do you need to have a nice, long talk with him, yes, but don't go in angry. Let him learn from this. Now, get dressed. I want to get to that buffet for once without having to make the twins run interference on Ron so the rest of us can get to it."
She started walking out of the room, stopping to pat the top of a small jewelry box on the dresser. "I know the two of you are going to hold off, but don't forget this. You're still young and sometimes things get out of hand."
"I won't forget, Mom. Thanks."
Cringing slightly as she opened the box. She had indeed missed a day, forcing her to double up today. She pulled a multivitamin out so she would have a good excuse to get a glass of water to take her meds with and headed for the kitchen, hoping the Tweebs hadn't wiped out the pitcher of juice again.
How had she forgotten? That hadn't happened in almost two years!
We sure did make a good decision last night she thought as she downed them.
Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney