A\N HI! UPDATE! By the popular demand (1 person asked), here's an update. Honestly, 75% of the chapter was written like a month and a half ago, but for some reason i couldn't make myself to finish it. Until the recent review, that asked me politely to just do it. Can't disappoint a reader. So, here's an update, and let's pray to every imaginary deity around that i won't be stalling THIS MUCH with next one. (BTW, i am so sorry for delay once again, a mental kick was already delivered up my rear). Also i once again tried something new with a format(different kind of line breaks), so give me you feedback if like it or not.

P.S. story editor on this site is PISSING ME OFF. Seriously, it's messing with the text and format, i can't put a single tilde on its own, editor deletes it, underlines randomly disappearing, words too and many other little stuff! Why can't this site get better html editor?

And, as always…

READ AND REVIEW.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kim Possible.

Chapter 19

Welcome back

"Are you ready?" James Possible stood by his car, twirling key-chain around point finger in anticipation of almost three hour drive.

"Yeah…" Ron walked up to him with a backpack over his shoulder. "i'm all set, Mr. Possible."

"Be careful you two." Ann said, seeing them off along with twins standing beside her.

"Of course, dear." James smiled and pecked her cheek, making younger boys gag visibly.

"Ow, grow up you two." Kim scoffed, passing by, with mobile phone in her hand.

"Going somewhere?" her mother asked.

"I was thinking to check up on some things, just to be sure everything is ready for next week, you know."

"Kimmie, you sure you…"

"I'm fine Mom. It's not first time i'm organizing Helping Hand week." girl rolled her eyes.

"Ok, that's it." Ron sighed loudly, walking up to the young red head and snapping his fingers. "Boys, grab her!"

Twins smiled wickedly and grabbed Kim's arms from both sides, with Ann deciding to join the fun and held girl's shoulders, wondering about what that boy was planning to do. Before Kimberly could do anything, Ron snatched the mobile phone from her soft grip.

"Hey…" she was about to protest, as boy's palm appeared in front of her face, covering her mouth.

It took several seconds to riffle through her contact list the right person to do the job and press dial in hopes that this rushed plan would work.

"Hey Tara, it's Ron… Nah, she's fine, nothing bad happened, she's just a bit tied up at the moment." muffled sounds of protest could be heard behind the palm. "Anywho, as you probably know yourself, Kim goes way overboard with this organizing and stuff… yes again, and again yes… does she ever slow down?... So, what would you think about her having a nice long day off today, mall, spa, some third thing girl's like to do… yeah, like that. Great! ... No, thank YOU. Bye!"

Kim felt as grip on her weakened, as her family released her and bade half-step away. A hand was reaching her, holding a device.

"Bottom line..." Ron said sheepishly, losing his sudden confidence boost. "You need a break."

"I don't need a…"

"I have to agree with Ron on here sweetie." Ann talked sternly to her. "You tend to go overboard, i don't want for you to burnout."

"But…"

"By the way, Tara asked to tell you that she will be at the mall in an hour and she'll be VERY upset if you ditch her today, something about skipping last two times."

"But… i wasn't , you… ARGH." her shoulder flopped down in defeat. "Fine, you won. But if anything this week, and i mean ANYTHING will go wrong, i blame you."

With these words leaving her lips, Kim turned stomped back to the house, mentally rearranging all today's plans into more leisure ones.

"Right, haha…" blond boy let a nervous chuckle. "Thanks for helping me dudes, nice reaction time, you too Aunty Ann."

"Always ready to torment the sister." Jim did a mock salute gesture.

"Anytime." Tim smirked.

"Must admit, that was somewhat fun." Ann said folding her hands. "Kim needs a rest, whether she wants it or not, too bad she is usually too stubborn to listen. Thank you Ron."

"No problemo!" Ron grinned, happy to be useful.

"Now, i think it's time for you and James to hit the road."

"Ah! Right!"

While Ron was dropping his backpack at the backseat, James walked up to his lovely wife with almost perfectly hidden shock on his face.

"I can't believe i witnessed this." he said in a hushed voice. "Kim lost a battle of will to somebody other than you. Have you rehearsed this?"

"No." Ann giggled. "It was all improve from my side, don't know about boys though."

"Give Kim a credit card today, i'm sure she'll be responsible with it."

"Of course. Be careful on the road hon, call me when you'll get there."

"I will." James pecked her lips and went to the driver's seat of his car and droving away.

As the car moved towards another city, Ron opened his bag and pulled out a slightly worn-out book. Very first page had a big visible stamp [Property of Middleton High-School Library] on it.

"Brought up a reading material i see." James noticed tis in his rear-view mirror.

"Mr. Barkin gave us a reading assignment for the spring break. Lo, The Plow Shall Till the Soil of Redemption."

"Oh, ehm, good. It is a long ride after all, might as well to get and be done with it." James said to him while he himself remembered this cursed classic book from his high-school days and took a pity on poor boy.

~ # ~

Big wooden wardrobe took a good two third of the space at the painted wall. Lots of different pieces of clothing, once belonged to a pair of twins, was taken away from it and now laid chaotically on the floor. In the middle of this mess, Bonnie was rustling through the items in attempts of finding something she could borrow from her sister's garments selection. Each time she was coming to the room and scavenging the wardrobe, the selection of things she could get for herself was getting thinner and thinner.

"Come on, there must be something my size…" she picked up spaghetti strap top with its bottom ending right below the chest area. "Jeez how did they sneak up past Dad in this, it's just screams two weeks of grounded?!... Wonder if i could pull it off…"

Mirror, built into the wardrobe's door, reflected a posing Bonnie, who held the revealing item by it straps, making it lay down right on top of her chest.

"Hmm…" she hummed, appraising what she saw for a solid twenty seconds, and threw it back on the ground soon after. "Pft, like i'll ever have a reason to put it on. Right?"

After stalling for a bit, she used her foot inconspicuously to slide the piece of clothing in question towards the nearest maybe pile. Several more dives into the closet's depth later, she put unfitting clothes back to it, dropping the ones she decided to snatch into the blue plastic basket. With loot in her hands, Bonnie walked out of the room, carefully closing the door behind.

"Still need some track pants, and i'm low on spare t-shirts." she sighed, moving things into her own room. "I guess, i don't have other choice."

After a short ride on the bus, Bonnie got off at the Middleton Mall's parking lot and made her way inside. However before going to any of the clothing store to search for the things she had on her list, her legs instinctively dragged her into the other place. Smell of the ink, paper and plastic tickled her nose, tugging corners of her lips slightly upwards. Slowly strolling through bookshelves, moving her sight from row to row, searching for interesting updates was causing a somewhat relaxing effect to her. Near the detective section her heart skipped a beat. A big cardboard stand with two characters, a police-woman and a man in the suit, standing back to back with a title right in the center, a quill pen decorating a side of letter A in one of the words in it. Her eyes sparked, as her mouth was in a full grin mode.

"A new Bastion novel!" her and someone else's voice said almost in unison.

"Oh, hi Bonnie!" a blonde girl, standing beside her, waved friendly.

Young witch's face got into the neutral state in a millisecond. She recognized a girl as one of cheerleaders, the one who hang around Kim Possible the most.

"I'm Tara." blond girl said, feeling awkwardness in the air. "We have the same classes"

"I know." Bonnie cut her off.

"Ow." Tara kept a friendly look. "You like Bastion novels too?"

"Yes." she answered shortly, trying to avoid eye contact.

"This is so great!" blond cheerleader squealed in glee. "What's your favorite book?"

In a bit of a social shock Bonnie found herself at total loss of words. Like her every thought got blocked by a giant dam of 'Why?'.

"Mine is the fifth one! Nathan Bastion's daughter got kidnapped, and the protagonist shows the whole new darker part of himself, ooh, the chills!"

And just like that, the dam was broken.

"As if." Bonnie scoffed loudly. "I know, the whole Paris arc was awesome, but come on. Third book was way superior. Bastion's darker side, arguably, started with introduction of his greatest nemesis Terry Jason, quadro-murderer. A villain so great he appeared in two more novels after that, each time escaping like a freaking magician!"

"I don't think he'll back again though. Being shot and falling down from the high bridge? I don't like his chances."

"They never found his body." Bonnie pointed out. "Why author even put it in the novel if not for the possibility to bring him back."

"Won't it be redundant?"

"And Nikki Flame's mother case, that going through almost every book, ain't redundant?"

"Point taken." Tara nodded affirmingly. "Between Terry Jason and needlessly complicated political thriller, i'm choosing a serial murderer with mommy issues."

"Can't argue there." Bonnie let a slight chuckle out.

"It feels so good to talk about Bastion series." blond cheerleader smiled sweetly. "Nobody else I know had ever read it."

"Can't you like, lend first book to Possible or something?"

"If it's out of school curriculum, she won't read it." Tara rolled her eyes. "She prefers watching teen tv series, like Moon Way of Sun Walk."

"The one with werewolf or something? I got a minute once while switching channels, no offence, but it looked stupid as heck."

"It kinda is." girl admitted sheepishly. "It has good parts in it too though! Like the drama sometimes is really suspensive, sometimes overly cheesy, and it can be really funny, i swear, and..."

"Woah, stop right there, I ain't judging." Bonnie found the antics of the girl amusing.

"You know what? Here…" Tara pulled out DVD case from her purse. "Kim just returned the first season to me. You can borrow it. I promise, you won't be disappointed, much."

Bonnie took the unexpected offering, eyeing the half-naked werewolf-vampire on the generic cover with semi-interest. "Th-thanks."

"No problem." Tara beamed her smile again. "Listen, Kim is waiting for me at the food court right now, you can join…"

"No." young witch cut her off without a second thought.

"Yeah, that's what I expected." Tara was slightly disappointed. "Anyway, I need to go back to her now, and if you'll need anything, or just want to talk, don't be a stranger."

"Sure."

Just before leaving her sight, Tara turned around and waved goodbye. Bonnie, awkwardly, returned the gesture, as blond cheerleader left the store. Putting the DVD into her back bag, Bonnie walked off as well, wondering if she can make Ron watch this with her, since, according to a blond cheerleader, it was something cheesy, and god knows – Ron likes cheesy.

~ # ~

Snoring lightly, with a book placed on his face, drool barely touching a corner of the paper, a teen was napping dreamlessly at the back of a stationary car. A sudden loud honk made his body jump up, almost hitting the roof with his head.

"Book was too boring for you, Ron?" James asked with a slight snide in his voice.

"This book is snobby, pompous, overwritten, and the pictures were in black and white. I almost dislocated my jaw from yawning!" Ron raised his voice in frustration, slurring words a bit due to sudden wake.

"And how far did you get?"

"Like…" he looked up a number in the book. "… page 3."

"I see." James let a chuckle out. "Don't worry, i myself got only twelve pages until tossing it in the corner when i was in school. I finished it soon after of course, but the first time was the hardest."

"This book still s…" his eyes caught a painfully familiar view through the side window.

"We arrived." Mr. Possible stated, noticing a change on boy's face.

As the two got out of the car, a simple one-story house with untrimmed front yard greeted them. Stepping on the porch first, James pulled out the keys. Door opened with its usual screech, tying a knot in boy's stomach. He stood before the entrance, arms shaken, legs stiff. A hand touched his shoulder, pulling him out of his daze.

"Listen, i need to get to the gas station now, so we could get back to Middleton today." he said, putting several folded cardboard boxes in the doorway. "Are you going to be ok?"

"Ah? Yeah, yeah, don't worry Mr. Possible, i'll be fine." Ron answered, putting one hand on the neck.

"You sure, 'cause i can…"

"No, it's fine, really! We don't want to miss Aunty Ann's dinner after all."

"Call me if…if anything… you know…"

"I got you." Ron nodded.

"Ok. I'll be back soon."

After the car disappeared in a driveway, young blond teenager dragged a pack of folded boxes inside, closing behind the noisy door. Specs of dust were flooding the air, along with laying thick on every surface around. Hand pushed the switch on the wall, with no result. The only light in the house was coming from the windows, since electricity was cut off.

"Mom?" he asked passing the kitchen, with blurry eyes. "Dad?" his voice trembled, as he checked the living room. "I'm home!"

But nobody answered.

He wiped of his eyes with a sleeve, and, with aching heart, went on, towards his old room. It was still the same as the day he left it. Magazines on the floor, gaming console under TV set, random couple of mismatched socks. Screwed to the wall and like everything else covered in dust, a sturdy and long wooden shelf held important collection on it. Usually a week or so after his birthday, starting from the 6th one, Ron got a package from the Middleton, a present from Kim, a robot model that you need to glue from pieces and paint, which usually came along with a letter from the girl, except last three, which came with a signed Happy Birthday card. Ron, in return, usually sent her Cuddle Buddies, first one he got for her being a weird plush, half panda and half kangaroo.

"Clean you room." Ron mouthed the word he heard so many times from his mother, feeling another wave of gut-wrenching regret flowing in. "Guess i start from here."

Car parked again at the house, with slightly nervous James inside. Man walked, in a fast pace, up to the door, and turned the knob.

"Ron, i'm back." he said, stepping through the doorway.

"In here Mr. Possible!"

He followed the voice, which led him to, what seemed like, main bedroom of late Mr. and Mrs. Stoppable. In there, on the floor, sat Ron, rustling though some albums. His eyes were red, along with his nose.

"How are you, Ron?" James enquired carefully.

"I..I… Achoo!" boy sneezed, setting a cloud of dust around him.

"Bless you."

"Thanks." a loud sniff can be heard. "I'm totally fine, except the dust all over my face. Just getting some of Mom's albums for Aunty Ann."

"I see, that is really considerate of you." James was relieved, since it seemed Ron was holding much better than he thought he would.

"No big." he put couple of them in the box and stood up, swatting dust trails from his pants. "And, i'm done. Other boxes is in my room, let me get them and we can leave"

"You sure? I have couple more boxes in the trunk if you need it."

"Nah, i'll get other stuff next time. Unless the house will be sold or something? Wait, is it…"

"Don't worry." James reassured him. "This house is not going anywhere. It is yours by right, and, once you are 18, by law as well."

"I almost had a mini heart-attack here." Ron sighed dramatically.

"So, you are absolutely sure you are done here for today?"

"Yep. It would be neat to do something with all this dust, but it probably will take whole day to do, so…"

"Next time, Ron, i promise."

With a click, Ron locked the front door to his house. He will certainly come back here soon. Many memories were still locked inside, too many things that he wanted to forget not so long ago. They are all preserved here, same as in the last day with his parents.

"Ready to go?" James asked him, as boy dropped back on the backseat.

"Yeah."

Car's engine growled, as they moved away from the house, leaving a lingering sadness.

"I noticed you started to call Ann like you did as a kid." James asked. "Just so you know, i won't mind if you call me like that too."

"Sure thing, Uncle J!"