Where Did the Time Go? : Part XLI
The Tuesday morning following their 'detention' reality set back in. At least this time they were ready to take it head on. Well, at least Kim was. With what they considered their biggest hurdle behind them they were finally free ton concentrate on the waning days of their high school career. The fact of the matter was, though, there was still a lot of work to be done before it was all over.
That day they left school an hour and a half later after eating and discussing Ron's next steps with Mr. Reynolds. By that point the man was most concerned about his family's ability to pay for the education since he wasn't qualified for any scholarship money like Kim was. Ron didn't bring up the fact his financials were already taken care of, preferring to wait until he could tell his father and proceed from there. As Gene Stoppable had already told him, part of his trust fund had already been set aside for his education.
Kim was exuberant. Principal Director didn't say a word when she rushed up to Ron and planted a great big kiss right on his face. Apparently there were appropriate time to show affection on school grounds and even if this wasn't, she was more than willing to take any punishment the woman dealt her. Before long they would quit this place and she could kiss him any time she felt like it.
Once they finished their small but delicious feast, Bonnie took Ron aside for a few minutes. Kim didn't overhear what was said but let that pass since she did promise her privacy. The two of them shared a short hug before the other cheerleader left. She had no doubt in her mind Ron would readily accept the girl's apology. That was just his way, getting very mad for a short period of time before his mind let the matter go. He would probably be wary of her from now on and in her estimation that was a good thing but it was nice to know everyone had finally come to some sort of understanding.
It did make her just a little sad that the only reason she had offered Bonnie her forgiveness was for Ron's sake. Still, that was behind them now. It was very likely her old rival would fall back into her old ways but that she found she could live with. In a couple months school would be over and they would part company, perhaps forever.
Later, as they pulled out of the parking lot Kim was giving Ron 'the look.' Her eyes were half lidded and her lips were flushed, barely curled at the edges in a 'Mona Lisa' smile. It was clear she was feeling very romantic and wanted to celebrate Ron's success with him in that very special way. Even his sometimes sluggish mind got the message. A celebration of this sort would be a very special moment indeed.
They should have known better.
The sitch was perfect. Her mother was starting a heavy rotation at the Medical Center, her father had a late meeting. The twins were over at Cousin Larry's doing heaven knows what in cyberspace. They would have all the privacy they wanted or needed.
A quick call to Wade would be all it took to put up the electronic 'do not disturb' sign. There was always the chance some vile monster or huge automaton would attack, but what were the chances something like that would actually interrupt them again?
Don't answer that rolled through both their heads.
Halfway to Kim's house, Ron started sneezing. He crossed his fingers it was just the early pollen flying around the atmosphere considering it was almost spring. That wasn't the case. By the time Kim got him into the recliner the same bug that had stolen her weekend jumped on him with both feet. This was no mere attack of hay fever, his 'fortress of immunity' had been breached. Kim gave his mother a quick call and told her she would set him up in the guest room for one more night. He stayed there the night before on the off-chance he actually did have the bug and didn't want to pass it on to his mother in her condition.
"Sub un ib tellib us sub din." Ron sputtered as she handed him a big bowl of chicken and rice soup. She understood him perfectly 'someone is telling us something.' The same thought had been on her mind from the moment he started sneezing. What was going to happen the next time they were feeling romantic? Earthquake? Flood? Massive alien attack?
He looked warily at the bowl and then back up at Kim. She narrowed her eyes at him and very gently kicked his propped up ankle. "Relax, I just heated it in the microwave. I know it's not as good that way but you have to admit, with me it's safer. I mean, how can I screw up opening a can and pouring it into a bowl? Same thing with bologna sandwiches, I think I'll leave grilled cheese to you."
"Ib fine." Ron said, not bringing up the fact the soup was very thick and strong since she didn't realize you had to add water. At least it was edible and with his nose stopped up that way, he could actually taste is a little bit. Not being sick often, Ron wasn't used to the symptoms. He was utterly miserable though at least he wasn't having the coughing fits. Fortunately for him it managed to stay in his head for the most part, though he did get the chills and body aches.
He did manage a smile when Kim put on one of her mother's lab coats and played 'nurse Kim.'
It didn't help that over the next week both Bonnie and Principal Director came down with it as well. Buried hatchet or no, the other teen still blamed Kim since she was in fact 'patient zero,' though she never got abusive over it. That was perhaps a way for her to save face with her cronies, though whatever had happened between her and Danika seemingly severed the younger cheerleaders ties with the clique.
Ron was only out of school a day. The bug was vicious and fast and in him it didn't leave a lingering cough so by the end of the week you wouldn't have even known he was sick. He stuck with his theory that some unseen force was making sure the teens kept to their promise to wait. In a test of that idea, he set plans once more late that month and they promptly got an emergency call and ended up fighting Dementor and his Henchmen© (Henchmen – all rights reserved, HenchCo.)
Kim's Mom, who once again had read the signs and guessed what the two of them were up to, had a good laugh when her daughter explained what actually happened. Even if she was prepared to respect any decision the two of them made together, she was secretly happy things were always falling in such a way to keep them on the straight and narrow for the time being.
They set up a sting for the Vigilante Ninja three more times with nary a peep from her. After two failed attempts, they correctly surmised she had gone into hiding. She reappeared early in April during Spring Break but once again failed to show up when the trap was set out for her. Somehow she was aware when it was a trap. That meant they would either have to catch her out of sheer luck or they would have to devise some other means. The fake robbery stings were simply not working. Eventually Global Justice decided that, since she was actually taking out real bad guys, she wasn't important enough to devote any more resources. Their emphasis from the beginning was preventing the technology from falling into even worse hands and it looked like somebody was using the suit as a springboard into becoming a masked crime fighter in the tradition of The Fearless Ferret (without regard to the fact that was actually a TV show that was cancelled after two seasons and not a real superhero.) Betty Director assigned Will Du to the case, effectively putting it on the back burner. Kim was tweaked by that and by the fact her suit was still in unknown hands but she found herself too busy to do much more about it anyway.
April came and went seemingly in a heartbeat, though if you asked either teen at any point along the way, they would have said it was dragging interminably. Their sights were set on the future and two very important dates:
May Nineteenth and June Second. The Prom and Graduation. Beyond that, they were eagerly looking forward to mid to late summer when the two of them would finally turn eighteen.
The traditionally rainy month was full of just that, lots and lots of rain. There were also many minor missions. Besides the garden variety crooks there were rescue missions, Frugal Lucre up to his cheapskate but surprisingly dangerous schemes and a Monkey Fist wannabe calling himself Simius Rex with his trio of trained orangutans. The apes proved to be more comedic than dangerous and were delivered to the same Hollywood animal trainer who had taken in Chippie once their former master was behind bars.
Even with the assistance of a professional accountant, James Possible waited until the last moment to do him fairly complicated taxes. Kim wondered if Burn Berman was actually going to crunch something besides numbers as he tried to unscramble the Possible family's finances.
On tax day itself, it was Ron who wondered if Shego was having a nice birthday. Kim wondered how he could remember that, considering the actual date was unimportant when they discovered the criminal mercenary's real identity.
"Simple, it's the proof that she's really evil, she's born on the most evil day of the year."
"Ron, Tax day isn't evil." Kim chided.
"It is if you saw what my trust fund paid this year. Dad had me sign the papers – it'd give you the creeps. Guess what, Kimila? Next spring you're going to be filing too."
"What for?"
He tapped an envelope sitting on her computer center. "That, my love, is a paycheck which means income taxes to the state and Uncle Sam."
She made an unintelligible sound somewhere between a moan and a growl as she sat down on the bed. "Why should I even have to bother. Between the two of us we've barely made enough to have a good weekend of dates. I think Doctor Director just did that to keep her bean counters off her back. Have you seen what they took out just for travel expenses and for those lack-wits helping us in the hunt for VN? What's going to happen if we have a string of non-GJ missions and nothing from them and we spend more than we're making?"
Ron looked at the ceiling. "Maybe when I get my money I can buy you another plane like I did a couple years ago."
"That's sweet, Ron, but you know from first-hand experience you don't just buy something like that and stick it in the garage until we need it. It costs money to store it, to maintain it, to pay for the FAA license. Even if you weren't forced to sell it so quickly you'd have gone broke just with upkeep. All these people who've been giving us rides all around the globe have really been doing us a real favor."
"Yeah, I know. Just think, when VN starts calling in favors, she's going to start popping up all over the place. Maybe she'll start taking up some of the slack and we can have some free time."
Kim made a rude nose with her nose. "What, start cutting into our hero business. You mean we're going to have to pay her a call and tell her to back off like Team Impossible tried with us?"
"If we could do that, then we wouldn't have such a hard time finding her, would we?"
"Doy." Kim lay back on her bed with her hands behind her head. Ron got up and sat down beside her, playing with her hair.
"She doesn't have rides." Kim said thoughtfully.
"At least she's not rolling up on a caper in a Chevette. I thought even Will was going to break out laughing last week."
"No, Ron, get it, she doesn't have rides. Every time she's popped up it's been in Middleton or just nearby like Upperton and Lowerton. She's purely local."
"So? The Fearless Ferret always worked just in Metrotham." He started playfully tracing her exposed belly button.
Kim caught the look in his eyes. "If you even think of giving me a belly raspberry I'm so going to kick your biscuit and you can forget any kissing."
He had a mock wounded expression. "Would I do something like that?"
She didn't answer, but sat up taking his target away from him. "Being serious here, Ron. GJ thinks she's a pro after that last attempt. I'm starting to think she's not. A pro would have realized they were falling into a pattern by now and it's not just being around town. She always strikes fairly early in the evening, never after midnight. If the baddies figure that out, they'll just start doing more in the early morning before dawn."
"Okay, but what about all the fancy stuff she did with the suit. She's found capabilities Wade didn't even realize and he built the thing."
"I know. That's what I don't get. That should have ruled out Bonnie a long time ago. She's smart, but she doesn't have that kind of education."
"Got me." He said, nuzzling her ear.
Kim rolled her eyes. "I'm trying to figure out a sitch and all you're thinking about is making out. Come on, Ron, get your head in the game."
"Sorry, KP, I'm a guy, it's what we do. Besides, I'd rather get my head into your hair." He put his face deep in her mane and took a deep breath. "It smells so good."
She gave him a brief kiss. "You're hopeless."
"Well, Kim, maybe VN had a point. She's trying to be one of the good-guys. She doesn't know how much that suit's worth and maybe she doesn't care. If all she does is fight crime then what's the bad?"
"The bad, Ron, is she's not trained. The suit isn't bullet proof."
"It's got the shields."
"Which are thought activated and I don't even know if it would come up fast enough to stop a bullet. She's either going to get hurt, hurt somebody or get somebody hurt. That's something we've always had to worry about." She stopped and looked at Ron.
He was doing his best to put on a 'serious face' but was failing miserably. She chuckled slightly and then started giggling.
"You're incorrigible." She smiled, putting her hands on top of his.
"Have no idea what that means." He twined his fingers with hers. "But you do look bon-diggity in that top and those shorts are doing things to me." He let go of her hand and touched her bare waist.
"Behave yourself, loverboy. Everyone's home right now." She was almost cut off as he leaned in for a kiss. With a glance at her open hatch she gave into it. After all, it was just a kiss.
A very warm, very long passionate kiss that curled both their toes.
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