Cross Country – Part I
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Takes place several years after the events in Heart of the Fury
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Kim Stoppable stepped out the front door of her townhouse and stared. The monstrosity sitting in their drive represented one thing to her…
…defeat.
She sat down on the stoop, propping her chin on her upturned palm. At least it was a new model, with all the accoutrements expected from a high-end, late model such as she was staring at. There was a full satellite hookup with both onboard and remote navigation capabilities. The communications array could keep them in touch with virtually the whole planet if they wished to. The seats were not only wrapped in leather softer than any Italian made glove, but boasted the latest in computer controlled custom comfort appliances. Once the computer was made aware of her biometrics, it would instantly conform to her personal preferences, without so much as touching a button.
The cabin had separate climate zones, with heat or air conditioning delivered to any seat, be it in the front or the back The front passenger seat could be tilted back almost all the way without interfering with anyone sitting in the back. Everything about it screamed comfort and luxury.
She still hated it.
Sitting in their front drive was the one type of vehicle she never wanted to own.
An SUV.
Of course, her feelings toward that class of vehicles really didn't apply. It didn't burn copious amounts of gasoline, nor was it noisy. It was designed to ride as if they weren't even in a vehicle. Her father's beloved Jaguars weren't as smooth riding as the new Glissade parked in front of the home she had lived in for almost five years.
It still stood for the kind of environmental waste she always stood against.
Sure, in high-tech looking chrome letters it said 'hybrid' on the rear hatch. That had become a badge of honor among people like her. That in itself wasn't what put her mind at ease so much as the fact the gasoline powered engine that normally charged the electric motors in such a vehicle had been replaced with a special cold-fusion fuel cell. The 'truck' (as her husband Ron called it) would not need refueling for close to a century.
She remained tweaked at it simply because it was a large sports-utility-vehicle. Most people that saw it wouldn't get close enough to see the fake "hybrid" plate. They would simply assume it was just another gas imbibing monster that got only a dozen or so miles from a six dollar gallon of fuel. Her fear was that the moment she climbed into it, a photo of her would be flashed instantly around the globe, with thousands of irate fellow environmentalists clamoring for her virtual head.
It would have been so much better to fly. It wasn't like they couldn't afford the tickets. Ron had parlayed the small fortune he received from the trust fund his father had set up for him into a something much larger. He still worked as the executive chef at his four-year-old restaurant, but that was sort of a personal indulgence.
She never once thought she would be in her position by the age of twenty-seven. She was well on her way to receiving her doctorate, though, in all her years, she had yet to even think about what she was going to do. For a while, after completing her undergraduate work, she thought she would return to the hero business, though in a much more advisory role. Three months after her wedding, she learned that would not be in the cards for a while. Then, just as thing were shaping up in the Team Possible department again, she found out that she was once again pregnant.
At least this time it was planned. She and Ron had actually been trying for a little over a year. It seemed so easy the first time. In fact, GJ, or Eugene James came along as a bit of a surprise. They wanted to wait a few years before they started having kids, but one mission kept them away from Earth itself for a while, and during that time they were together, with her birth control pills sitting in a drawer, at home.
She rested her hands on her seven-months pregnant belly for a moment, thinking about the little girl growing inside her, as well as her son.
She wouldn't have taken anything in the world for GJ, though sometimes it seemed a little odd to call him that, as if he was named after Global Justice, instead of his two grandfathers, Gene Stoppable and James Possible.
The screaming in the house announced that her four-year old son had come down from his upstairs room and was chasing his aunt and foster-sister around the house, most likely with his specially modified super-soaker gun. It did little good to tell him not to use a water gun in the house, or to take it away. He always found it.
The door burst open and two eight-year old girls came piling out of the house, flying over the steps and landing in a dead run. Wet steaks on their clothes told the tale. GJ was on the prowl with his favorite weapon.
His 'aunt' was really much more like an older sister to him. Ron's parents spent almost eighteen years trying to have another child, with success coming at just about the last possible moment. Catherine Jean, or CJ as they called her, was every bit her older brother's sister. She had the same corn colored hair, the same big ears sticking out from her head and big dark freckles decorating her face. Despite those familial oddities, she was actually an attractive little girl. Since Kim had known Ron quite well at that age, she knew that she looked just like him, right down to the dark red T-shirts she favored. The only real difference in the little tom-boy was her long, shaggy hair. The same cowlicks plagued her as they had her brother. The running joke between the two of them was that she should have been named VeRONica, with the emphasis on the 'Ron" part.
The other little girl was actually no blood relation to any of them, though she had spent the greater part of her short life with the young parents instead of her natural forebears. Papers had been signed making the Stoppables legal guardians of Amethyst Lipsky when her parents could not be around. Considering they were many thousands of light-years away from Earth most of the time, the responsibility often fell to them, to the point they really started thinking of the girl as their own.
Amethyst was almost surreally pretty. She had her father's glittering blue eyes and dark brown hair, but everything else came from her mother. She was four inches shorted than CJ and was clearly going to be a quite petite young woman some day, unless some strange growth spurt were to occur. Her hair was already down to her waist and not a day went by that Kim didn't think she looked just like a miniature version of her mother.
Sherry "Shego" Lipsky had been given a second chance. On Earth, despite leaving her old ways behind, she would always be a wanted criminal. A sort of truce had been called when her daughter was born, but it was likely it would not last. On her new world, both her and her husband, Drew Lipsky, the former Doctor Drakken, were considered heroes. It was a change in their lives they could not pass up.
The only problem was that their new home, the planet Arkonia, was just too dangerous a place to raise a then-three-year-old. It was probably one of the toughest decisions the young mother had ever had to make, but at least she had one person she could trust to take care of her. It was awfully strange that the two of them had only a few years earlier been mortal enemies, but the fact remained that Kim was glad to take in the little girl.
That is until they learned Amethyst was not only capable of mimicking her mother's glow powers, but also had the ability to transport herself and others clear across the galaxy in the blink of an eye. They quickly realized Ammie, as she was known by almost everyone, was teleporting to her mother. It was a hard lesson to learn when she ended up in the middle of a battle and nearly saw her parents killed. From then on, she would only visit when she was able to contact her first.
A third shape came charging out the door, bearing the air-powered water gun like it was an assault rifle. GJ was a straight cross between his parents. In shape and build he looked just like his uncles Jim and Tim when they were that old, with the same ragged, spiky hair. Only that hair was much, much lighter than theirs was, being a shade of strawberry blonde tinged with red. He had his father's brown eyes and round face, though his ears were significantly smaller.
While nobody could say the charging little boy was graceful at the moment, he did not share his father's innate clumsiness. For a four-year-old, he moved with power and confidence, and not the tiniest little bit of fear. The scrapes and bruises on his arms and legs were testament to his adventurous spirit.
GJ may have been fast, but his mother was even faster. One moment he was charging past her on the stoop, ready to blast his playmates with is aquatic assault rifle, the next he was empty-handed. He skidded to a halt and glared at his mother for a moment.
"Gimme that back! It's mine!" He stomped one foot, as if that would fracture the sidewalk in front of him. It was at times like those Kim was so glad his fathers Mystical Monkey Power couldn't be passed down to his children.
"No, Eugene." Just like her parents, Kim was much more likely to use his full name rather than his initials. It was Ron's doing calling his sister and his son that. "We're going to be leaving in a little bit, and I don't want the three of you all sweaty and dirty. We're going to be in the car for a very long time.
"Well, they started it. Ammie tried to kiss me!"
"Did not." The tiny eight-year old said, emerging from her hiding place.
"Did too! You were trying to give me your icky girl germs."
"I don't get germs." That much was true. Ammie hadn't been sick a day in her life. No earaches, no colic, not even a cold. That had been left to CJ, though she was never sick very long, especially when her roommate was around. Nobody seemed to get sick when she was near, making the adults wonder if she inherited more of her biological father's powers than they first suspected.
"Don't care. Ammie, you don't kiss Eugene. Eugene, the water gun stays home." She pulled the stopper, letting the huge tank on top drain out onto the grass of their small front yard. "Now, inside with all of you. I want you to take care of business before we leave, because Daddy's not stopping until we get to the hotel."
The three children trotted into the house. At least they knew what she meant, even if she sometimes had to explain it to Ron. Of course, they would very likely have to stop several times anyhow. The Glissade might not need gas, but with her expanding midsection pressing on her bladder, there was no way she was going to last the roughly one-thousand miles before they reached their planned stay at the halfway point.
She still would have thought it was a better idea to fly, but Ron was somehow enamored with the thought of cross-country road trips. Right after they turned eighteen, they had set out on one alone. He also kept making the argument that pregnant women shouldn't fly, but she still had two months to go and wasn't in danger of giving birth on the plane. He won the battle once he went to go pick up the new SUV.
One day Kim was going to discover where Wade came up with all the materials for the gadgets they provided for them. Obviously he managed somehow to turn a great many of his inventions into income, but she never really had a handle on how much. Ron even said from time to time that he suspected the oil companies were paying him millions every year just to keep cheap energy technology like the power cells of their cars off the market.
All through the years he had always provided them with high-tech gadgets to serve on their missions. It really didn't dawn on her until her later teens that some of the technology was actually worth millions, like the super-suits they used to wear. A his and hers set still hung in the back of their massive walk-in closet, but they hadn't been put on in over a year. She made a mental note to check the charge meter on them some time when they got back.
Would she even be able to put it on with her expanding midsection?
Ron appeared at the front door, trying desperately to handle as much of their luggage in one trip as he possibly could. If this was an actual mission, he could have his gear pared down to what would fit in their small backpacks, yet on a 'normal' trip, he never quite got the hang of only carrying what they needed. She was certain their closet had literally been cleaned out.
"Ronnie, let me help you with that."
"No way, KP. No heavy lifting. Doctor's orders." He never stopped calling her that, even after they got married. It went without saying that KS didn't quite roll off the tongue the same way.
She put her hands on her hips. "You know good and well Mom was exaggerating. I'm not having any complications this time around and there's nothing there that's over the limit."
"Okay, carry this." He handed her a canvas bag. Curious, she looked through it, pulling out a battered silver device. The finish had worn off most of the edges and it was scratched all over its plastic body, but the small screen set in the upper half of the face looked brand new. If only the whole outer surface was made of that sterner stuff.
"I thought we talked about this." She held his old Kimmunicator up, waving it like it was some contraband found in the children's things.
"Aw, come on, Kim. What if…"
"What if? Ron, you know we don't do that any more. Joss is perfectly capable of running Team Possible while we're gone. Besides, you're the one who keeps after me about not overexerting myself while I'm in this…delicate condition, as you so chauvinistically put it."
He took the old unit and stuffed it in the cargo pocket opposite his second oldest friend. "Think of it like this, KP. I'm going prepared. You know as well as I do any time we go somewhere without one of those, or our equipment belts, something bad goes down. It's our lot in life. Some people are just born to get in trouble."
"Or trouble comes looking for us. Ron, I'm not even bringing a link-phone. If somebody wants to get a hold of us, they're going to have to do it through the communications system on that truck thing of yours."
"Well, I'm taking it, but it's turned off. Besides, I'm sure Wade's tracking us, if he needs us, he'll know how to reach us."
Kim laughed softly. "Just make sure it is. It's going to be enough fun driving cross-country with three kids. I don't want him talking us into taking Midori too."
"Aw, Wade and Yori's kid is cute."
"Yes, but she's two, already talks like a six-year-old, can take apart almost anything and her mother is already training her to be a ninja. I'm so not dealing with that, on top of our kids."
"We'll be ready to go in a few minutes." He shoved the last of their luggage into the back of the SUV. "Then we'll be outta here and won't have to worry about it." He looked around. "I could have sworn I heard the kids a minute ago."
Kim struggled to her feet, having a hard time despite her protests otherwise. "Eugene James Stoppable! Catherine Jean Stoppable! Amethyst Nell Lipsky!" Kim once was forced to read Dune and realized one particular part actually worked; The Voice. Or course, it could be just the simple fact she used their full names. In short order all three reappeared.
"In the truck, now!" She pointed at the vehicle. Wordlessly, all three obeyed. Well, except for GJ.
"I don wanna ride in the boos'er seat. I wanna ride with Dad!"
Ron picked his son up and put him in the seat, snapping the straps shut. "Not till you get bigger, squirt." He felt bad for the boy, but every single state they were crossing required children his age to be in them, whether they were the sons of internationally known heroes or not.
"Uncle Ron, I want to sit with CJ." Ammie pleaded. She was herself only just barely big enough she didn't have to ride in one herself.
"Sorry, Ammie. The seat's made to fit in the middle, unless you two want to sit in the back row."
"So not." Kim said, climbing into her seat. "They're sitting right in the middle row where I can keep an eye on them." She smiled at the girls, knowing full well what kind of mischief they were capable of. If Ammie were alone, she tended to be quiet and reserved, but CJ had a tendency to bring out the worst in her sometimes. Together, they were like Kim's younger brothers had been at that age, with the added fun of the tiny brunette's powers.
Ron climbed into the driver's seat last. While he was half a head taller than Kim, he still wasn't an extremely tall man, so he looked lost in the spacious cabin. She took his hand and gave it a good squeeze as he put the big SUV into gear.
"Okay, let's go get Felix and Monique married." He drove out onto the street, heading for the highway.
"Hey, he's touching me!" CJ whined as they made the last turn before the expressway.
"More than two thousand mile, Baby, and we haven't even hit the city limits yet." Kim chided.
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a/n – This story represents a big milestone for me. I've now hit a mark I didn't think possible when I started writing here at FF. One million words!
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Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney