Where Did the Time Go? : Part XIX
Ron stood in the downstairs hallway of his home, his good hand buried in his pocket. He was actually nervous about what he was about to do. More than nervous, he was actually a little bit scared. He had faced a number of things in his life that nearly scared the life out of him, but never had it been to the point he would turn around and walk away.
Okay, there were times he ran away screaming, but that was appropriate at the time.
Raising his right hand, he prepared to knock on the door he was standing in front of.
His right hand was still in a 'lightweight' cast though in a week it would come off, to be replaced with a Velcro brace to keep it immobilized as it finished healing. A couple weeks of that and he should be cleared for missions again.
That couldn't come soon enough, in his opinion.
The long drought was coming to and end. More than coming to and end, it ended with a bang. Kim had to beg off the first two calls, one because she was a man short on her team with Ron's wrist on the mend and two because her mother put a medical grounding on her as well. Kim fussed and fumed all the way back over to the Medical Center that Sunday afternoon, but she was still complaining about headaches and that was enough for Anne. Off to the MRI machine she went.
The short ride back home was spent glaring first at her mother, then at Ron, who had joined in on the chorus of voices saying that she needed her head examined (his words.) The tests showed absolutely nothing, it was just a matter of a cut and an even worse bruise that just happened to be in a place that caused her a little pain whenever she pulled a face.
If anyone in the world was famous for her sour puss, it was Kim Possible. Ron still thought she was really cute when she was angry but he'd learned a while back not to say so.
Two days later, save for a yellowish spot on her scalp where the bruise had been, you would have never known she was ever hurt.
The missions seemed rather mundane, but it was the sheer volume of them after going so long without them. It was like the whole criminal underworld had learned of her wingman's busted wing and were taking advantage of it. That left him wondering why the same thing had not happened while he was in Japan last fall. While there were only a handful of people who knew the real reason he was there, the trip itself was no secret.
Kim was having more success than failure, the villains slipping away only on two occasions, but she was not coming home happy. After one near miss she remarked that it was like the time she went after Drakken and Motor Ed while Ron was busy hanging out with Felix. The Mullet cousins ended up getting away and Kim ended up spending the next three hours cleaning red primer off her skin and her hair. Her mission clothes ended up in the rag bin.
The night before, just as her whole family (including Ron) were about to sit down to Sunday night dinner she got the call. Three hours later she let herself back into the house. A game of Strategories was winding down at the kitchen table as she stomped up the stairs, not even bothering to report to Ron what had been going on. Then he noted her torn crop top and her filthy cargos. Following her as far as the door of her bathroom he tried calling out to her.
"Ron, I am in no mood right now." He heard her say in a near growl as the water started.
"Kim?" he called through the door.
She stuck her head out the door. He gulped slightly when he realized she was already down to a sports bra and her favorite color panties but the look on her face was enough to completely take his mind off her state of undress.
"Look, I don't need somebody to talk to, I don't need a hug and I'm not going to be cuddling or kissing anybody tonight so you might as well go home. Okay."
Ron stood there for a moment dumbfounded.
She looked at him and her frown got a little deeper. Reaching out she touched the top of his good hand. "Ron, I love you, but I just need some me time."
"KP, what happened?"
"Ron. Go home. We'll talk tomorrow, Okay?" She shut the door and apparently got into the shower.
He lingered there until the water shut off but finally turned and headed down the stairs before she came out, not wanting to face her when she was angry like this. It was a day or two early for the first signs of PMS to be setting in, but that part was an inexact science at best so he figured discretion was the better part of valor and wandered back into the Kitchen.
"Goodnight Doctors P, Jim, Tim." He waved at them slightly as he reached for the back door.
The four of them looked at him as if a lemon tree had mysteriously sprouted from his head. Since the two of them had been dating, it usually took either Anne or James to chase him out the door around eleven or midnight, not nine thirty.
"Uh oh, looks like…" Jim started.
"…somebody had a fight." Tim finished.
"No, we didn't fight. It's just, I think if I hung around tonight there might be one."
Anne cocked her head at him. "Ron, why don't you come sit down. I'm sure once she gets cleaned up she'll feel a little better."
He looked back the way he had come. "No thanks Mrs.Dr.P. Kim said she wanted some time to herself and I've got to go over my Trig notes anyway." He turned the knob and started out the door, leaving two surprised adults and two confused double-digit pre-teens in his wake.
The walk home seemed to take twice as long as it normally did. There wasn't any reason he should be feeling the way he was. Kim had been like this before, though not in the last eight and a half months. Maybe it was just another step in the evolution of their relationship but it still seemed to hurt.
"Ron, I love you, but I need some me time."
I love you…but.
That part of the conversation played itself over and over in his head. By the time he could see the lights of his home that phrase alone was starting to sound a whole lot like We need to talk.
When he got home he noted the lights were on in the front hall and his parent's room. Nobody was downstairs to ask him how his day had been, though that was far from unusual. He slowly climbed the steps to his room and shut himself inside.
Rufus climbed out of his pocket and skittered down onto his desk as he sat down and took out his math book. He took one look at Ron and wandered to the entrance of his tubes, curling up in one of the little plastic chamber where he could watch his human unnoticed.
Randomly picking a couple problems, Ron worked through them almost mechanically. Even a year ago he could not have imagined doing that and for a time he found he actually enjoyed solving them, like they were a kind of puzzle. That wasn't doing him any good tonight but at least he was relatively confident he was prepared for the inevitable pop quiz in the morning.
Was Kim just wanting to avoid a potential fight like he said he was or was the honeymoon over?
Propping his head on his desk he tried to think. All he could do was think of those words, over and over and over.
I love you…but.
He would have felt a great deal better if she had called him Ronnie.
Looking up he noted the date on his computer screen. February fourth. Less than two weeks until their first Valentines day, to the first time in his life he really had somebody to call his Valentine. Yet he was sitting there wondering if they were at the beginning of the end.
Things seemed a little better in the morning. Kim was sitting in the kitchen finishing her cereal when he came in and gave him a good-morning kiss just as she had since they were going together and by all appearances was in a much better mood than when he left the night before. She even helped him shift the transmission in his car, though he had gotten used to handling it with his cast.
By the time they got to school he realized she was being much quieter than normal. That sent him right back to his worries. Somehow he managed to keep from bringing up her mission and that seemed to keep her happy enough. She gave him a good hand-hug when they parted to go to their first classes.
There wasn't much chance to talk at lunch either. They sat on the floor in front of their lockers and ate their sandwiches in near silence as she poured over the queen-mother of all dreaded high school literature assignments, War and Peace. She finally put his heart to rest just as the warning bell went off at the end of lunch period.
Gently touching his cheek she smiled softly at him. "Have I told you today how much I love you?"
He spent the next two periods mentally kicking himself for responding only with a stupid grin. He didn't have time to berate himself during the last period since he had to spend it trying to keep her from destroying the home economics room. Thankfully this was the last week of cooking instruction.
They didn't have cheer practice that day, so they were able to head right for their car. He didn't so much as get the key into the ignition before she grabbed him in a fierce hug.
"Ron, you are so good to me." She whispered finally, still holding him tight.
"KP, are you okay?"
She sat back in her bucket seat and squeezed his forearm. "I am now. Thank you, Honey."
The engine sputtered to life but he wasn't quite ready to pull out. "Kim, what's going on? What happened last night?"
Closing her eyes slightly, she growled softly. "Two words. Wil Du."
Ron shuddered very slightly. He actually happened to like the guy personally, though it did bother him how much he irritated Kim.
"So what did he do this time?"
She shook her head. "Let's go where we can sit down and I'll tell you about it. Want me to help you drive?"
"Sure thing, KP." Somehow the same young woman who could only work a cereal bowl and a coffeemaker in a kitchen had learned to shift his car in perfect synch with him. He didn't even have to tell her when to shift, she just listened to the engine and knew when he was working the clutch.
He drove them to Bueno Nacho. It was between the lunch and dinner rushes, so the easily got their usual booth, though there had actually been times when people they didn't even know surrendered their favored spot to them the moment they came in. That embarrassed her slightly but Ron just graciously thanked them and accepted, which seemed to make everyone happy.
After hungrily downing a Naco, Kim launched into her tale about the mission. After the second time she'd refused a call from Global Justice on count of Ron's injury, they'd started assigning junior agents to assist her. That was all fine and good until last night. The only agent they could spare to help her was "that overbearing, conceited pompous ass Du."
Kim's rant rolled on for a good thirty minutes before she wound down. All of the anger she'd bottled up the night before came spilling out, to the point she pounded her fists on the table a couple times.
By the time she wound down, Ron was resting his head on his arms. "I'm sorry, Kim." He muttered.
"What? What've you got to be sorry about, Honey." She gripped his fingers where they stuck out of his cast.
Sitting up he held his busted hand up. "It's my fault they're having to pair you up like that. If I hadn't gotten hurt like an idiot we'd be the ones going."
"Ronnie, Honey, Baby." She put her hand over his good one. He raised an eyebrow at her use of all three pet names at once. "Of all the sitches we've been in the last five years, we should have been hurt far worse a dozen times over. You fell on some ice. That wasn't your fault and it cold have happened to anybody who was out on that sidewalk that night. Listen, if it helps, I'll just pass on the missions until your orthopedist clears you. How's that sound?"
"Kim, that's not fair to you. I know how much it's hurt you not to go on as many missions."
She shook her head. "It's different now. It feels, I don't know, like going to school or something. It's just not fun and somehow it's like they're just sending me out to keep my busy. There hasn't been a single mission that GJ couldn't have handled themselves."
Ron frowned. "That sounds like they're trying to put you back in the field, no matter what."
"Yes it does. I haven't talked to her since then, but Dr. Director said something that morning at the hospital, well, actually it's something her sister said. They were going to take something up later. I'm wondering if Dr. Director is actually finally trying to break through her sister's mission ban at school."
He nodded. "That sort of make sense, but I thought Principal Director had the school board on her side."
It was Kim's turn to put her head down on the table. "I just wish you could go with me. Right now it's just too much like work. I know I don't do this for fun but now, being out there without you it's like my heart's not in it." She brushed his leg with her foot. "You know what I mean?"
"I'm your heart?"
"Uh huh." A smile crept across her face as she looked up at him.
"Okay, confession time, KP. I spent most of last night and part of today thinking we might be on the road to breaking up."
"What?" her head shot up, shock evident on her face.
"I just thought, when you sent me home like that you were kind of dismissing me or something."
"Whoa, hold it right there. I was tweaked good and proper last night, but I was not dismissing you. Ron, what happens when I'm that angry?"
"We fight?"
"No, worse than that. When I'm in that state my emotions start getting confused and I lose control of myself." She paused, raising her eyebrows, hoping he got the rest.
He did. It was early in their relationship and it was only Ron's utter fright at the situation that had kept them from doing something for all the wrong reasons.
"Then too, I might have bitten your head off and that would have been almost as bad." She slumped down on her arms again. After a few moments she looked up at him, gazing at his eyes. "You know, I still think it sucks being seventeen."
"Just a few more months, KP but remember, it's not like we agreed we were just plain going to wait until then, we're going to talk about when then." He reminded her.
"That's not it. Well, that's part of it, but it's mostly that in everybody's eyes we're still just kids. I don't know if you've noticed, but I like being in control of things."
"Uh, yeah." He agreed sheepishly.
Her eyebrows sunk over her eyes. "Until I'm eighteen I'm not really in control of anything."
Ron didn't quite know how to respond to that. He didn't know how much difference six more months would make. Kim did like being in control. She pretty much led their love-life, though he often planned their weekend dates, with varying degrees of success.
They sat there in silence for a while, Kim pushing her straw up and down in her cup, making sounds that weren't too far removed from nails on chalkboard with the lid.
That got him to thinking. With Valentines just a little over a week away he had to think of something. It had to be special. Over the years he had often given her small hearts filled with chocolates and this year wouldn't be any different. Well, he was actually going to get her a really, really big heart this time, but that was just to keep with tradition. He had to do something big. Extremely big.
He dropped Kim off, claiming he needed to do some homework. She still had some ground to cover in her English assignment and he couldn't quite do his work if he was serving as her reading pillow so she readily agreed. He quickly finished up his work and went online with his computer, thankful that Wade had put a really good one together for him and had connected it to the TV cable (they had yet to convince his father to let him install a T1 line like he had at Kim's house.)
He checked his bank account, frowning when he wrote the figure on his notepad. A few more scribbled notes and figures joined that one as he searched through a few more sites. His frown deepened as he realized what he had to do next.
That put him at a door at the end of the downstairs hallway.
For the third time he raised his hand as if to knock. He never got the chance. The door opened up and he found himself face to face with his father right outside his home office.
"Ron? What is it?" Concern crossed his face. His son almost never came to that room.
"Dad, I need some of my Naco money."
Gene stoppable pursed his lips and nodded slightly. "I suppose this has to do with Valentine's day coming up?"
"Uh, yeah."
He nodded a little more. "Okay, come in and sit down."
The main reason Ron never went in there was because it was essentially a place of business. Geometry and Trigonometry he could finally understand, but what his father did with numbers was still far beyond him. Statistics, even in the simpler form they would cover in about a month, left his head spinning.
"Now Ron, you know we set up this trust because you have had problems with large sums of money before." His father began, sitting back down at his work cluttered desk.
"I know. It's just…I want to do something special for Kim."
"Son, I know how you feel about her. She's a very special girl, but this money, if we handle it right, is going to last you a very, very long time. Handling it right means not frittering it away just to impress her. I've seen how the two of you are. She'll love you just the same if all you do is take her to a nice dinner and give her a good card. Heck, I'm sure she'd love you if all you did was take her to Bueno Nacho."
Ron had to smile at that. "I know. I just don't think it would be right though if I didn't do something real nice."
"Okay, look at what you did for her birthday. You found a way to buy her those really nice earrings. I don't think I've seen her once without them on since you gave them to her. That was all done by you, without dipping into this money and I think it meant a whole lot more to her that you did it that way. Your mother and I were so proud of you when you did that."
"Yeah, but I don't think I could pull that off again. I've got a little bit in the bank, but my car needs a new clutch and the insurance is just about due."
"Well, those are things you have to think of first."
"I don't even want to dip into the money itself. Maybe if I just used the interest it's earned this month. That way I'm not losing any ground."
"Well, at least you're thinking a little clearer about how money works. Okay, here's the deal. I'll put this months interest into your bank account, but this is a one-time thing. You just can't do that constantly or you'll just end up spinning your wheels. There's not going to be withdrawals every time some special occasion rolls around. You two still have birthdays, Christmas, Hanukah, you're probably going to want to do something on your one-year anniversary."
"That's kind of the day after the Prom, so I think that's how we're celebrating that."
"Uh huh. Then it'll be the day you met and so on. Do you understand what I'm saying Ron?"
He nodded emphatically. "If I'm going to keep doing special things for KP, I'm going to have to figure out how to do it on my own."
"So you do understand. Son, this is a test as much as it is me helping you do this. There's going to come a day when you'll have to make decisions with money that could make or break you. It's a whole lot easier living knowing you've got something in the bank to back you up than if you blew it all on pretty earrings and such."
"Yes sir."
"Good." He turned his monitor so Ron couldn't see it and typed a few things into it. A few minutes later he held his hands apart, nodding toward his son. "That's it. I just transferred this months interest from your trust fund into your checking account. Make me proud, Son."
"Thanks Dad. This means a lot to me." He got up to leave so he could run upstairs and start planning in earnest.
"Oh, Ron. Do you think Kim would like to come over to dinner tomorrow night?"
He stopped, momentarily confused. "Aren't you and Mom headed to Denver tomorrow."
Gene shook his head. "No. I know the two of you have enjoyed the chance to have some privacy here and it makes me proud the two of you haven't abused that…too much, but I'm afraid that has come to an end. That's what I want…what your Mother and I want to talk to you about, you and Kim."
"What is it, Dad?"
"Tomorrow night, I promise you. It's really a family thing, but I recognize that eventually Kim is going to be our daughter, so I think it's best to include her as well."
He mounted the stairs back to his room, pondering what it was his parents were going to tell them. It was a 'family' thing. That confused him royally.
Sitting down at his computer, he checked his bank account so he could start making the arrangements for what he wanted to do. He checked the pending figure, though he knew it would take a couple days for the money to become available on his account.
He stared at the screen. Rubbing his eyes, he tried to make sure he wasn't seeing things.
The available balance was just what he was expecting, just a tad over a thousand dollars. Just enough to fix his car and pay the insurance, leaving some left over for date nights and assorted snackage.
The pending balance read over fourteen thousand dollars. That was the interest for a month?
How much was actually in the trust fund?
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