Blue Eyes, Shining
Disclaimer/Author's Notes: Kim Possible and all the characters of the show are owned by the Disney Company. All other characters can be blamed on the author (he, however, is not responsible for all of their actions at all times, being barely responsible for himself most of the time….). This is a strictly not-for-profit, just-for-fun work.
To my reviewers:
Zaratan: Wade is not just leaving his room for days; he's leaving it in the hands of his mother and he's leaving the state. It's definitely love. Of course, having a travel partner helps (Wade, stop grinning!).
Yankee Bard: Rondo advice seems to be working so far, but let's see what happens in person.
AtomicFire: Interesting thoughts on Joss' mom. Also, glad you liked the Wade/Betty banter: it gets better. As for the rest: in the words of the old Davy Crockett song: "Well, wait and see…."
CajunBear73: It's going to be a busy summer, with lots of surprises both happy and sad.
Enjoy! Please read and review.
- - - - - - -
Chapter 4: In the Twilight
(From the archives and logs of Dr. Wade Load.)
- - - - - - -
I hit the ground and turned to be almost nose-to-nose with Joss.
"Hey there, Wade," she said. "I'm shore glad you could come up here and help me out." There was a twinkle in her eye, and an honest smile when she shook my hand.
"The pleasure's all mine, Joss. I'm glad I can help," I replied, and she smiled even bigger. "I need to check on the equipment unloading," I said as I squeezed her hand and released it, then turned to make sure that all of the equipment was unloaded as the ranch hands carted it off to what looked like a relatively new building on the ranch (the huge WET PAINT and WET CEMENT signs were a dead giveaway). I was also watching Mr. Dr. S. and Betty, trying to catch a hint of what was going on there.
Joss took my hand, squeezed it, and pulled me over to her dad.
"Dad, this is –"
"Dr. Wade Load, PhD from MIT, Summa Cum Laude, holder of the Stinson award for advances in artificial intelligence and cyber-robotics."
"Mr. Dr. Possible, -" and he cut me off.
"Dr. Load, please, call me Slim, or I'll be forced to call you Dr. Load all the time," he smiled and stuck his hand out.
"O…K…Mr. Dr…I mean, Slim," and I shook his hand. I glanced at Joss, and she had an even bigger smile on her face.
"Betty, you and your team have to stay for dinner. I've made a fresh batch of 5-alarm chili, and I even have some no-alarm for the greenhorns."
"I accept, Slim, if it's ok with Joss," and Betty walked over to Joss.
"Jocelyn, I'm Betty Director, head of Global Justice. I also had the distinct pleasure of having your mom as my best friend; we went to college and graduate school together. I was the maid of honor at her wedding to your dad," and Betty stuck out her hand. Joss took it, shook her hand, and then hugged her. I thought that both of them were going to cry.
"You knew my mom?" Joss quietly asked, so soft that I could barely hear her as she and Betty separated, and Betty nodded.
"Sheri Nicole Sensible was one of the best people I've ever known. Your mother was a saint, Joss: she had to be, to put up with your Dad," and Betty winked where only Joss and I could see her, and Joss laughed.
"Do you mind if my team and I have dinner here?" Betty asked Joss, and Joss was surprised that she was being asked.
"Not at all, Betty, I'd like to here some more about my mom," and Josh took my hand and squeezed it again. I could get used to this: her hand in mine. Betty turned and went back towards Slim, and Joss whispered to me, "We need to talk."
Betty kissed Slim on the cheek, and laughed as she watched him blush. "I need a place to change for dinner, Slim."
"We've got a bunkhouse available for your team to relax, and I have a guest room for you to use," Slim said. "Wade, Joss can show you to your room."
"Thank you, Slim."
"I'll show you where we've set up the command bunker," Joss said, and she pulled me towards the new building and away from her dad and Betty.
- - - - - - -
"Well, Wade, what did you think of the command bunker?"
"Well, Ron puts it best: BOOYAH!" and Joss clapped her hands.
"I was thinkin' 'SPANKIN!', but Booyah works, too," Joss laughed. We were walking back from my room where I'd stored my suitcase and backpack after unloading the laptop in the bunker.
"How deep is this bunker, Joss?"
"Well, the structure underneath the ground floor is five additional floors, all hardened, and there's all of the hardened site space below. The ranch includes an old Minuteman missile site," she explained. Now it made sense.
"Daddy has had plans to upgrade the property, and he had already completed most of the work three months ago, before I heard from you. He's expanding his work and moving it out of the house, and this bunker was perfect for it. What I wanted to do just added a little of work to what needed to be completed."
Joss suddenly changed tone. "OK, Wade, cough it up. Did Kim send you up here?" and Joss had pulled me to a stop and was giving me a classic "Kim" look. I laughed, and the look went from Kim back to Joss. "What? Why are you laughing?"
"Joss, if I could count the number of times that your cousin has given me that look," and she chuckled.
"Well, I guess some things are 'Possible' for 'Possible women,'" she said calmly, and then slapped her knee and laughed.
I responded. "No, Joss, Kim did not send me. I came because you asked me to," and she smiled so big, "and I thought I could help. When I got your request, I looked it over and was able to figure out what you were planning, and I've got some ideas beyond your rope grappler upgrade and the command bunker. I'd like to talk to you about them, maybe plan some actions out. I told Dr. Director, and she cleaned out the GJ surplus equipment storage and… well, that's why we have 2 jets instead of one."
"Now, that is spankin' of Dr. Director, Wade. And, it's so spankin' of you to want to come all the way up her for li'l ol' me," and her voice softened as she tortured me with her smile and accent.
'Oh, the pain….'
"Thank you, Wade; that was very thoughtful," she continued, and I shook my head in response to her statement.
"You shouldn't have to start the same way that Kim did: from scratch. Let's do it right from the beginning," and she smiled even bigger at the thought that she was topping Kim in something. "Blaze your own trail, Joss."
"OOH, I like that," she said, her voice filled with excitement. "Let's go get some of Daddy's chili. I hope you like it hot," she grinned.
"Hey: Diablo sauce here, no big," and we both laughed. Joss showed me where the dining hall was and left to change for dinner.
- - - - - - -
I had dropped 2 pants sizes over the last 10-12 weeks (what you'd do for love…), and I had changed to a Meezod golf shirt after I unpacked and a pair of Rockers pants. No six-pack, but the dunlap belly was disappearing, so I was happy. I was glad I had, because the GJ ladies and gentlemen were in their typical black-and-tan sports outfits (uniform, official, relaxed evening wear, sporty). Everyone was there, it seemed, except for Will and Betty, and they all had a drink in their hands. I went to the bar, said hello to Slim (holding a long-neck in one hand and popping peanuts in the other), and got a diet ginger ale for myself and a diet cola for Joss.
Joss came in, and some of the younger agents had the same response that I did: wow. She had she had pulled her hair back into a ponytail, she wore a western blouse that hinted at skin-tight, a blue-jean skirt that did not meet the definition of a miniskirt by millimeters, red cowgirl boots completed the outfit.
'Redheads in general, and Possible women in particular, are going to be the death of me,' I thought. Joss saw me, waved, and came over.
"Hey, Wade."
"Joss, you look beautiful." I didn't need an embarrassment ninja, I did it to myself. 'Mouth ahead of brain: not a good thing.'
"Well, aren't you jus' the sweetest thang," she giggled and grinned; she obviously enjoyed my compliment.
"I didn't know what you wanted to drink, so I got you a diet cola," I said, handing her the drink. 'Mouth is no longer in charge: mind is back in a semblance of control'.
"Why, thank you Wade. You're going to spoil me if you keep doing thangs like this," she smiled as she accepted the drink.
'I intend to do just that,' good, the mind was ahead of the mouth, and the mouth stayed shut for 15 more seconds until -.
"Oh, my," Joss said, and I turned to see a vision escorted by a moron.
Will (not the vision) was escorting Betty into the room. Betty was dressed to kill, and I don't mean with her Smith and Wesson's. She had on a red dress that fit better and was tighter than the battlesuit (which I did not think possible), and it was cut just enough above the knee. I'd always seen Betty in boots and jumpsuits at work, so I'd never seen her in heels (She should junk the jumpsuits with those legs, was my opinion, one that was shared by the male agents here based on the looks on their faces; judging from the hanging mouths in the room, the other agents had only seen her in jumpsuits, and certainly none of the ranch hands had seen this). Neither Kim nor Mrs. Dr. P had a chance.
Slim stood next to the bar, in his clean and pressed western shirt with a simple silver bolo and pressed jeans, and he looked way underdressed. Will Du escorted her over to Slim, and Slim offered her his arm. She took it, and kissed him chastely on the cheek: Slim was redder than the dress. Will looked like he had just been told he had a date with Shego, and he was buying.
"You like?" Betty purred, and the temperature in the room went up 30 degrees Celsius.
Slim's laugh could have been heard in Alberta, British Colombia, and Idaho. "Betty, shame on you! You want to give your agents heart attacks?"
"'Use all of your available assets for distraction' is one of the topics of the training session we're running in Alberta, Slim," and Betty suddenly had a .38 snub-nose revolver in her hand that no one had seen. Slim smiled.
"How'd you do that?"
"Professional secret, Slim," and the gun seemed to disappear.
"Now, if all of you have enjoyed the floor show, let's eat. Slim?" and Betty presented her arm to Slim, and he escorted her into the dining hall. Will Du followed: he's been one-upped by a Possible, again.
'Follow the leader,' and I offered my arm to Joss. She took it, and I escorted her into the dining hall. Joss was unsuccessful in hiding her blush that, by now, was almost the same shade of red as her dad's blush had started. Luckily, the blush did nothing to diminish her smile, especially when she noticed the looks that she was getting from those same younger agents. I happened to look at Betty as she sat: she caught my eye, and smiled. Slim saw me escorting Joss, but he didn't give me the Possible 'black hole space probe' look that Mr. Dr. P. always gave Ron; to the contrary, he almost looked relieved as he smiled at his daughter.
"I want a dress like Betty's," Joss mused as I pulled her chair out for her. 'Battlesuit for Joss, personal fitting session!' I thought. 'YES!'
BAD WADE!
BAD WADE!
BAD WADE!
I grinned as I sat.
"Why'ya grinning so big, Wade?" Joss asked.
"Just thought of something funny," I replied.
The chili was wonderful, and I ate enough to call for an extra run sometime soon. I didn't think that either Betty or Joss had room in their outfits for chili, but they both surprised me.
I couldn't hear the conversation that Betty and Slim had, but they were laughing and enjoying themselves completely. I could tell that Joss was bothered by the fact that Slim monopolized Betty's time and Joss never had a chance her one-on-one with Betty about her mom. I attempted, with a modicum of success, to keep Joss' mind off of her missed time with Betty by telling stories of a couple of missions that Ron led or where Ron completed them solo. The stories, and the discussions about the upgrades that I was planning, kept her occupied and her mind off of her Dad and Betty.
Several male agents had their decision to re-up confirmed with the 'red dress,' and the ones with questions had their minds made up. I didn't want to know what the female agents were thinking.
- - - - - - -
Betty, Will, and the remainder of the GJ agents changed back into their jumpsuits after dinner (a couple of agents complained that training after a dinner of Slim's chili was cruel and unusual punishment, but Will ignored them) for the remainder of the trip to Alberta. I went back to my room, retrieved my backpack, and returned.
Before she left, Betty cornered Joss and agreed to stop by when training was completed on her way back to Middleton and GJ HQ and spend time with Joss alone to talk about her mom; Joss liked the attention, and readily agreed. Betty then walked over to me.
"Well, Wade, it looks like we unloaded all of the equipment."
"Yes, Dr. Director. Please give my compliments to the team. They did an outstanding job, as usual."
"Betty, Wade; it's Betty. The PhD alone gives you the right, and what you're doing seals the deal."
"What I'm doing…?"
"Three things, Wade.
"One: I'm glad you enjoyed the dress as much as my agents and Slim did," and I almost swallowed my face as she smirked. "Be careful of how much you enjoy it while you're with Joss, though: at least, you spent more time watching her than me. I don't know if I should be upset, jealous, insulted or relieved: I'll settle for relieved, with just a pinch of jealous.
"Two: While I'm out of the apartment, I'm having upgrades installed on the jamming system. No more 'fitting sessions,'" and she smirked as she let me that she now knew how I obtained the Battlesuit measurements. "I'll also expect you to return the originals and copies of the files of Kim and me that you created; I'll dispose of Kim's files, and I'll store mine just in case I need a 'new fitting.' For those files, you and Joss get the equipment, and I don't tell Kim and Mr. Dr. P. Deal?"
"Deal."
"Three: I know what you're planning, but I didn't tell Slim, and I won't tell him, either. He'll figure it out by himself, and I don't think he'll object, as long as you never hurt Joss. You hurt her, and you'll learn why he named his horse 'Tornado.' Clear, Wade?'"
"'Crystal 5 by 5, Betty.'"
"I'm not finished, Wade. Now I know why you've been working out and losing weight. When you jumped into the jet in Middleton rather than climbing in, I knew what you were doing, and now, seeing you with Joss, I know why." Her voice suddenly shifted from conversational to 'Mr. Dr. P.' serious. "She is the daughter of my best friend, Wade; you ever hurt her or even think about hurting her, and I'll send Will Du to use you as a karate workout dummy, I'll find Shego and pay her to go 'old school' on you, and then I'll scoop up the remains and send the leftovers to James and Kim and Slim; I don't think there'll be enough, if anything, left to send to a black hole," and I saw a side of Dr. Director that reminded me that she was Sheldon's twin, and I was honest when I replied:
"That won't be necessary, Betty. I'm in it for the long haul."
"Good. You're a good man, Wade, and I didn't think I had to tell you this, but I made a promise to Sheri that I'd do it to her Joss' 'real thing,'" and Betty bent over and kissed my cheek. She caught me glancing. Oops.
"You like the girls, don't you?" She grinned. I knew what she was talking about.
"You're a remarkable and evil woman, Dr. Director."
"I know, and not even in your dreams, Doctor Load," and she sprinted to her jump jet, launched herself, landed in the cockpit of her jump jet, and fired up the engines all in what seemed a ballet move. "Contact me when you have the center operational," she shouted over the engines, and she dropped the canopy.
Joss came over just as Betty shouted the last sentence. She had seen Betty and me in what appeared to be a lively conversation.
"Is everything all right, Wade?" Joss shouted as the jump jet rose and then shot off into the twilight.
"Perfect, Joss." At least I was out of the doghouse with Betty, for a time.
"Did you give any more thought to the ideas that we discussed over dinner?" I asked, and we headed to the command bunker.
- - - - - - -
Twilight was almost replaced by night as we went into a different entrance, walking into a cavernous room piled high with boxes of supplies, servers, networking equipment, workstations, and lining the walls was furniture: desks, conference tables, partition walls, trashcans by the score, and even artwork. Joss gasped; I don't think that she had realized how much equipment had been unloaded.
"Is all of this…" and her voice trailed in shock.
"It's what you need, Joss; well, except for the artwork. Trust me: you're not starting a babysitting site," and I was mentally working on an update to the room design and trying to figure out how many people and how much time it would take to set up the server farm and firewalls and network.
She shocked me, throwing her arms around my neck and hugged me. I could get used to this position.
"OHMYGOD! Thank you, Wade. I don't know how you did it, but thank you, thank you, thank you," she had started on the gleeful train, and then she derailed and started to bawl uncontrollably. My hands were at my side (hey, trying to be good!), but I couldn't help it now, and I awkwardly raised my hands to hug her and gently pat her back.
I let her get whatever was in, out for a few minutes, and then I quietly asked: "Joss, what's wrong?"
"I" sob "can't believe" sob "that anyone would" sob "do all this" sob "for me" sob. Was there a moodulator chip somewhere on Joss? I wasn't going to check.
"You need to thank Betty when she comes back: she's the one that came up with the equipment, not me. I gave her a huge wish list, not expecting any more than five percent of it. It looks like she emptied the GJ warehouses," I replied.
"But you came," she started to show her exuberance, "and you contacted her, and I wouldn't have known that she knew Mom, and you came," and then she released me. "Thank you, Wade," she said in a softer voice than I'd ever heard from her, and she kissed my cheek, then realized what she'd done and took a step back and almost fell over her own feet. "I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY, I'm so very sorry, Wade," and she was beet red.
"Joss, it's all right. You didn't do anything wrong. On the contrary, I'm the one who should be apologizing."
"Wha – Why should you apologize, Wade?"
I took a deep breath, and told her the truth.
"I've seen Kim grow and the missions become more complex and dangerous as the years went by, and I didn't have anywhere near the resources to give her everything that she and Ron needed to be safe. You've told me what you want to do, and I wanted to make sure that you didn't start with the same handicaps that Kim had after I started working with her. I made mistakes, and I've learned from them; luckily, no one has died because of my incompetence. You deserve the best, Joss, if you're going to risk your life and the lifes of others," and she stared at me in shock the entire time that I was talking.
I needed to get her mind off of what I had just confessed to her. "Let's check the server that your Dad set up and see what's up and working, Joss." I went into the room where I had left my laptop. A change of subject would, hopefully, let her forget what she'd done; I couldn't forget, I didn't want to forget, and I wouldn't forget..
There was a group of 4 desks in the center of the room, all 4 pushed together in a square facing each other and having a clear top that revealed the dlp-enabled plasma screens mounted underneath the desks. A server stood at the back of the room, and the communications equipment was rack-mounted next to the server rack. Everything looked like it was operational.
"This is the server that you connected to from Middleton," Joss pointed to the wall.
I went to the desk, sat down, and pulled out my laptop. I powered up, and checked for a network connection: local wireless network up and operational. I ping'ed the server and got a response. I logged on to the server and checked the directories that I had established: everything that I had done was still there.
I reached over my shoulder and pulled a box out of my backpack, popping it open. I removed the contents out of the box and hit a button on the unit. 2 cables snaked out and connected to my laptop. After about 90 seconds, the cables disconnected and retracted into the unit. I checked the unit, placed it back in the box, closed it, and turned around in the chair to face Joss, who was now standing behind me and watching what I was doing.
"Here you go, Joss," and I handed her the box.
"Is this what I think it is?" and she grinned as she opened the box and pulled out the unit.
"Your team's version of the Kimmunicator Mark 4, but with a 'few' upgrades," I said, smiling. "This one's yours, and I have a starter set that was shipped that I still need to configure. Besides, you can't run an outfit like this without one, I don't like email: too many viruses on the Internet. Power it up," I said, and Joss hit the power button. The stylized JP appeared on the screen.
"Spankin'," was all she could get out.
I reached into the backpack and pulled out another surprise in a box. I motioned, and she put the Kimmunicator down and caught the box that I tossed.
"What's in here?" she asked as she ripped the box open. Christmas morning in the bunker….
"Rope gun upgrade," I replied as she pulled out a small device. "The rope's been replaced with the latest synthetic; it's 30 times stronger and 30 times lighter than anything that you had, and it's the next generation of device that's being incorporated into the battlesuits. You clip it under your wrist," I smirked as she had already put it on and had already fired it at one of the exposed beams overhead; it fired almost soundlessly and attached as quietly, and Joss triggered the control that pulled her up to the ceiling. I was glad that she was wearing that skirt.
BAD WADE!
BAD WADE!
BAD WADE!
I grinned as she grabbed the beam.
"Spankin," she yelled from above.
"Are you coming down anytime soon?" I yelled up.
She came down quicker, and she popped the line release from the beam when she was 10 feet off the ground and jumped towards the wall, executing a pair of mid-air spins and landing expertly in a crouch, one hand touching the ground fingers pointing down and the other arm out counterbalancing.
"Whoa, now that was fun," she said to herself as she caught her breath and pulled in the line with the rewind control, and I stood and clapped. She finished pulling in the line, turned, and curtsied. I laughed.
"I'm impressed, Joss. And no cheerleading background," I commented.
"Gymnastics; mom had me in dance for awhile, too," she was bubbly, and then she almost shut down when she mentioned her mom. "That's been a long time ago," she was very quiet, and she picked up her Kimmunicator and appeared to want to be alone with her thoughts, but her thoughts were put on hold, and not by me.
- - - - - - -
'Where am I going to get the people to set this up,' I was thinking while Joss was thinking about leaving the bunker, and magically the door opened and Slim walked in. Joss put on a happy face; she seemed not to want her Dad to know if she was in anything other than a perfect mood.
"Ah'm not interruptin' you young folks, am I?"
"DADDY!"
'Good news,' I thought: 'Slim was definitely James Possible's brother.'
'Bad news,' I thought: 'Slim was definitely James Possible's brother; I needed to remember this last factoid.'
"Wade, I thought you could use a hand settin' this shindig up, so me and mah boys and girls are all yours startin' tomorrow at noon.."
"Thanks, Slim, but I'll need some strong technical people."
"How does a mess of double-E's, ME's CSE's, and MIS folks, with networking, hardware setup, and technical architecture and DBA backgrounds sound?"
"Sounds wonderful, but where?"
"Wade, you don't think I've got high school kids out here shoveling 'imaginary output' from behind Tornado and his friends do you?" Slim grinned.
"Oh. OH! How many?"
"Will 25 people do for starters?"
"wow." I had no idea how big this ranch really was, but I was getting an impression that this wasn't your ordinary working ranch very quickly.
"Thanks, Daddy," and Joss was giddy as she ran over and hugged her dad. "Betty's coming back, and we're going fishin', and she's gonna tell me stories about Mom! Is that cool, or what?" Joss was gushing and in a much better mood than just a few minutes ago.
"Perfect, Sweet Tea. I'm sorry I monopolized Betty today."
'Sweet Tea?' Hmm, I guess that's better than 'Kimmie-cub.'
"No, you're not, Daddy: I'm not stupid, and I saw the dress and your reaction. Just so you know: Betty's all mine this time, but she's fair game for you on the return trip. Daddy, can I have a red dress like that?"
'Quiet and shy and demure, Sweet Tea is.'
"You're mom told me that this day would come," Slim muttered under his breath, "and so did Squirt." He replied, "not for a couple of years, darling'," he replied, and I saw for the first time that the 'puppy dog pout' was genetic.
"AHHH, snake muffins. Why do I have to wait so long?" From age 13 to age 25 to age 13 in 3.5 seconds: not a record, but fast, nonetheless.
"Well, uh, ah," and Slim was caught in father-daughter purgatory.
"Why don't you ask Kim, Joss? She didn't get one until she as 16, I think, so it sounds like you're coming out ahead in the game," I offered, and Slim mouthed 'Thank You' to me when Joss agreed to call her favorite cousin.
"I'll send you the updated building plans, Wade, so you'll have the most current ones," Slim added. "All of these floors are raised, and fire suppressant is designed and already in place in the ceilings and floors."
"Now, that's spankin'" I replied, and Joss laughed.
"We'll git you to talkin' right purty soon, Wade. Or would you prefer the Queen's English, old sod? Perhaps a spot of tea with your chili," and Joss' accent was gone and replaced by a cockney sound I hadn't heard since my time in London. She and Slim laughed at my confusion.
"We lived in London when I was growing up before Daddy bought the ranch here," Joss explained.
London and Montana: neither was safe from a Possible assault. This was definitely turning out to be an interesting trip, even more than I had imagined.
"Daddy, look at what Wade gave me!" the giddy Joss was back, and she held out the Kimmunicator.
"That's a modified Mark 4, isn't it, Wade?" Slim was good.
"And this one has the latest GPS and the new reduced power-use quad chip set in it, as well, don't it?" Joss just kept blowing me out of the water. 'You'd better not underestimate her, Wade,' I thought.
"And it has Dr. Freeman's camouflage built in and as a personal projector," I had to get something in that they didn't know about.
"Spankin!" came from both father and daughter.
"Jinx! You owe me a soda."
"Oh, man, not another one," Joss grumbled, and she headed for the machine and my diet ginger ale.
- - - - - - -
"Good afternoon, Betty."
"Wade! What a surprise. How much longer will you be in Montana?"
"All summer, Betty. I was calling to let you know that we've installed all of the equipment that your team brought, we should be complete with the server installations and upgrades by the end of the day, the network and firewall are operational, the satellite connections are up, and the backup landline OC-3 pipes will be installed in 6 days. When this is operational, I'll be able to work both sites from either location."
"That's incredible. How did you get all of this done in 12 days – no, I forgot: 'anything's Possible,' correct?" and she smirked.
"That, and Slim has what seems like 2 out of the top 5 graduates from every EE, ME, and CS program west of the Mississippi and a few from east of it out here working for him. On a ranch, no less!"
"I should have known as much," and she grinned. "Slim was always trying to one-up his brother, and Jim had complained that he hadn't been able to get some of the students at the Space Center that he wanted. I suspected that they had come out here, and this confirms it."
"Drakken would have gone crazier than normal if he'd tried to hand out 'Silly Hats' over here," and Betty laughed.
"You have all of the files, Betty," I continued. "Do you want access to my hard drive and backup system files to confirm?"
"No, Wade, I trust you."
"Nothing like a good threat to get what you want, is there?"
"Wade! I'm hurt! I didn't threaten you: I just defined the scenarios, the basic flow, and the alternate paths, and you chose the correct path."
"You are evil, Dr. Director."
"Why Wade, however can you have that opinion of me?" and she played the 'innocent little girl' act, and I laughed so hard that she started laughing, as well. I turned serious for a moment.
"Joss is ready for some fishin' time with you, Betty. When are you coming?"
"We've just about run all of the recruits into the ground. Will is having a wonderful time pushing them to perform above their understanding of their own capabilities, physically, mentally, and psychologically. They'll all make the cut, but there will be some serious 2-day passes needed for most of them."
"Why don't you check with Slim and see if he's got some 'Tornado' time for Will and the gang? They could probably use some time outside of Middleton before they go on assignment."
"I'll do that, Wade."
"Besides, you've got trout in the stream with your name on them waiting for you here."
"You are the evil one, Wade. You know how much I love brook trout."
"Then you'll be even happier: Ron's coming up for a week's vacation to cook."
Her face lit up like Times Square on New Year's Eve. "Really? All of his pastas are 'da bomb,' and I've heard that he can make a trout stand up and tango on your dinner plate, it's so good."
"'da bomb?' Betty, you need some time away from Will."
"Working on it. Thanks for the heads-up on Chef Ronald, Wade. Talk to you soon," and she disconnected.
- - - - - - -
A/N:
Breaking news: Che' Ronald is opening a branch in Montana!
To my loyal readers:
We're starting to see some answers to the questions at the end of Chapter 3, but there are still some questions outstanding, and new ones are starting to be coalesce. I'll collect them and present the next set at the end of Chapter 6.
Remember, Wade is 13 going on 35 going on 13, so his mind bounces from puberty to business to puberty to business to puberty …. Betty and Joss aren't helping any, either!
Stay tuned for chapter 5: 'Remember'. Thanks for reading, and please review.