After school and aftermath

Chapter one

C.J. wasn't able to contain his excitement on the way home. Not only did he make his first friend today but he also got to ride in the passenger's seat like a big boy. He did feel kind of bad though as to why he got to sit there. Looking behind him he saw his mommy lying in the back seat still unconscious.

"Daddy?" he asked "is mommy gonna be ok?"

"Sure she will, just give her a little while and she'll be fine." Ron answered his son.

"Oh ok." The boy replied relaxing and then asked his dad "Why did mommy faint?"

Ron tried and failed not to laugh before he responded. "Well um… It's kind of a long story kiddo. I'll let mommy tell you when you're older." After he said this he thought to himself. And that will probably be on your wedding day kiddo.

C.J. pouted. He knew that was the answer grown-ups gave when they didn't want to talk about stuff. He couldn't stay mad for too long though. He was going to get to spend more time with his new friend, Sarah. After they all made sure that Kim was ok, Ron had invited the Go family to lunch at their house. It would give the kids more time to play and would give Kim and Ron a chance to ask questions that needed to be answered, as soon as Kim woke up that is.

As the sloth pulled into the driveway C.J. was getting more and more excited about his new friend coming to their house. By the time his dad had started to park the car C.J. had started unbuckling his seat belt and was out the door before the engine had turned off. He ran to the edge of the yard and looked down the street where they had just come from.

He saw the car that Sarah's Uncle Wesley drove coming up the street. As the car pulled into the driveway behind the sloth, Sarah imitated her friend and bolted out the door before the car was turned off. Once his friend was out of the car, C.J. took her hand and led her inside the house to give her the grand tour.

Ron shook his head with a smile on his face as he watched the children race into the house. He got out of the car, opened the back door to pick up his still unconscious wife, and carry her into the house. He looked at the house for a moment, it was the same house he had grown up in. It had become obvious before he and Kim were married that his super ninja baby sister Hana would need a bigger house to live in and preferably a much bigger backyard. With this in mind, his parents bought a house in a new neighborhood a few miles away that was just being built at the time. Thanks to his parents mad financial skills, they were able to buy the new house without selling the old one. They had left it to the newly married couple as a wedding gift. Of course, at the time, no one had the foresight to consider what the offspring of Team Possible would be capable of.

When Wesley got out of his car, he walked ahead of Ron to hold open the door. "Thanks man." Ron said.

Wesley followed behind Ron into the house and said. "I didn't think she'd be out this long. Are you sure she's ok?"

Ron made his way into the living room and gently laid Kim down on the couch before replying. "Yeah, I had Wade scan her on the way home with the sensors in the sloth. She'll be fine. She's just asleep."

Wesley asked "Do you know how to wake her up?" still slightly concerned.

Ron rubbed the back of his neck for a moment and said. "Well… Yeah but I'm going to regret it later."

Ron then knelt down beside Kim and whispered into her ear. "K.P.? Monique just called. There's a seventy five percent off sale at Club Banana."

"WHAT!" She instantly bolted upright, wide awake. "Seventy five percent off sale! We have to go now! Where's my purse? Where are the keys?" She blurted out all in one breath.

"Settle down Kim. Settle down. There's no sale. I was just trying to get you to wake up." Ron replied quickly.

Kim sat up straight in the couch, took a deep breath and asked. "So… Monique didn't call?"

"Um… nope." Ron answered a bit hesitantly.

Kim took a moment to process this then asked him. "And there was no seventy five percent off sale at Club Banana?"

Becoming a bit more nervous Ron swallowed hard and started rubbing the back of his neck before replying. "Uh, again no."

Crossing her arms and scowling at him she said. "So, what you're trying to tell me is that my kind and goofy lifelong best friend, who grew up to be my loving, faithful, sweet, charming, loyal, caring, chivalrous, gentle hearted, compassionate and honest husband" Here she paused and watched with satisfaction as Ron cringed at the last phrase then bow his head to avoid her gaze. "purposely lied to me about what would have been one of the biggest sales at my favorite store on earth?"

With his head still down he snapped his eyes shut and gave out a very weak barely audible "Maybe." After which, staying completely still he awaited his fate. Then kept waiting and waiting some more. Finally after several moments and to his complete shock he felt Kim's soft lips on the top of his head. Opening his eyes and lifting his head he saw his wife's giggling face.

"Sorry Ronnie, I couldn't resist." She said with a guilty smile.

"What, wait a minute, I…" he said before taking a breath and smiling. " Ok KP, you got me. So does this mean I'm not in trouble?"

"I didn't say that." She said slowly with an evil grin while shaking her head. "You'll make it up to me later."

Again becoming nervous Ron broke out into a sweat and asked. "What did you have in mind KP? Sweetie? Darling… Oh love of my life?"

Kim responded by leaning forward and whispering into his ear. This had the effect of making Ron's eyes go wide, his cheeks blush and his trademark goofy grin to spread across his face. "I think I can live with that." He said.

Their moment was interrupted when Wesley cleared his throat, causing them both to turn to their guest with their faces matching Kim's hair. Wesley looked at the couple for a moment with a slightly uncomfortable look on his face before replying. "Glad to see you up Kim. You kind of had us worried for a minute."

After a moment Kim shook her head to clear it, recalling the event which caused her to lose consciousness. Her face reddened again as she struggled to come up with an explanation for her episode at the preschool. "I am so sorry, Wesley. I… I, um… It… it's. It's a long story." She let out a sigh and hung her head in defeat, failing to give a justifiable answer for her behavior.

Chuckling he replied, "It's ok Kim. I kind of figured that one out." Looking around for a moment after, he asked. "So… Where do you think the kids got off to?"

After glancing around and giving it some thought Ron said. " Probably upstairs, most likely in C J's room."

"Do you think we should go check on them?" Wesley question his host.

Ron waved his hand dismissively before saying. "Nah, I'm sure their fine. There's nothing they can get into up there. C.J. was already on his way when we moved in. So, Kim and I put everything that wasn't kid friendly up in the attic." He paused for a moment running his finger under his chin in thought before asking to no one in particular. "I wonder what it says about us that our attic door has a palm scanner on it?"

At Ron's questions, Wesley gave a good laugh before answering, "It means that like my family, your lives used to be just a little bit too interesting!"

This caused all three adults to laugh for a moment. After this had passed, Ron continue to speak. "But seriously though, I think they're all right, and besides it'll give us a chance to chat while I make everyone lunch. I think there are some things we need to talk-"

Before Ron could finish his sentence he was interrupted by a short but thunder liked rumble that almost shook the house. Both men slowly turned their heads to a thoroughly embarrassed red head who already had her face in her hands almost ready to cry.

After passing out at her son's preschool, being driven home and carried into the house still unconscious, being caught in a semi intimate conversation with her husband by an acquaintance whom they hadn't seen in years, now her stomach was causing a small earthquake at the thought of her husband's cooking. She was praying that this string of humiliating events was over.

"What was that!" a startled Sarah asked her friend.

C.J. looked at her and shrugged before saying. "That was my mommy's tummy rumbling."

"Wow!" Sarah said astonished. "Does her tummy usually do that?"

"Only when my daddy is cooking. He's really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really good at cooking." C.J. excitedly answered her question.

"That's amazing!" Sarah replied. Her mouth already starting to water at the thought of eating a meal deserving of such a raving review.

The two children were sitting cross legged facing each other on C J's bed. The room use to belong to his aunt Hana, but the crib had long since been replaced by it's new counterpart. The color scheme of the room resembled what it use to when Ron had used it, and like most children's rooms the floor was covered with various toys.

After glancing around the room for a moment Sarah's eyes came to rest on the open closet. On the top shelf was an impressive collection of plush toys most of which were the animal fusions known as Cuddle Buddies. Turning her attention back to C.J. she said, "Hey C.J., are all those yo-" Sarah stopped speaking when she noticed her friend gazing out the window next to the bed with a far off look on his face. The curiosity on her face was quickly replaced with surprise when she noticed the blue flame dancing in his eyes. She remembered what he had said about his mystical monkey powers. However knowing about them and seeing them are two totally different things. Her head slowly moved downward to look at her hands as a realization slowly came to her. One that replaced her surprise with happiness.

He has powers to! Maybe not exactly like hers but he had them! She had met another kid with powers and he was her friend! Then happiness turned to concern as another thought crossed her mind. C.J. didn't seem to be using his powers on purpose. When her powers acted up, it was usually because she was upset. Did his powers work the same way? Thinking about this her head quickly snapped up to look at C.J.

"C.J.?" she called his name, he didn't respond. "C.J.!" she said louder and this time reached across to gently shake his shoulder. This had the effect of breaking his trance. The flame in his eyes went out as he quickly turned to face her, startled. Facing her he blinked and rubbed his eyes as if waking up from sleep.

Putting his hand down and looking at her he asked slightly confused. "What's going on?"

"You were looking out the window at your back yard and your eyes were glowing blue!" Sarah said raising her voice a little.

"Oh sorry." He said, embarrassed. He glanced down and started to rub the back of his neck before finishing. "That was my monkey power."

"Oh cool! Is something out there?" Sarah asked moving closer to C.J. Looking out the same window, her curiosity being peaked.

C.J. was slightly unnerved by the sudden move. He wasn't a shy child by any means but he had never been this close to anyone other than family before. Not counting Aunt Monique of course, who had nearly crushed him with her hug the last time he had seen her. Shaking his head clear he hesitantly answered her question, still slightly embarrassed. "Uh… No, sorry. My powers just do weird stuff sometimes."

"Ok." Sarah replied turning back to look at him and leaning back on her knees. Then she smiled at him remembering her earlier question. She lifted her arm and pointed towards the closet and asked. "Are those yours?"

Looking to where she was pointing he replied. "Not really, my mommy played with them when she was little… Oh wait!"

Saying this he jumped off of the bed feet first then sprinted to closet. When he arrived at the doors he jumped up as high as he could, which was a lot higher than most four year olds. Reaching out in a flash he snatched one of the stuffed animals at the top of the pile off the shelf by its tail.

Watching this in slight amazement, although she was quickly becoming used to such things from her new friend. Sarah's head move up and down, her eyes following C.J. As he leapt into the air and came back down the floor on his feet holding the toy. Turning around and racing back to the bed he presented to her his plush trophy.

Sarah had a puzzled look on her face as she examined it. Sitting in front of her was an almost human like rodent with a body made of skin tone cloth with black triangular pieces sewn onto the paws to look like claws. On its head were two black bead eyes and below them on either side were three whiskers drawn on with a black marker. At the bottom of the creature's face was a long line also drawn with black marker that was carved up in the shape of a smile. In the middle of the smile was a small piece of white rectangular cloth that almost hung down to the creature's jaw.

Before she had a chance to ask C.J. excitedly blurted out. "This is Rufus!" C.J. climbed back onto the bed and sat cross legged in front of Sarah sitting Rufus in between them as he continued his explanation.

"Well… He's not a real one. He was a lot smaller. He was my daddy's pet naked mole rat, but he went to heaven a long time ago. I missed him so much that my mommy and daddy gave me this, and now he's my favorite toy and the whole wide world!"

That caught Sarah's attention, she had never had a pet before and didn't know that animals could go to heaven. So naturally after a moment she asked. "Wow!... How did he go to heaven?"

"Well… I don't really remember, but my mommy and daddy said that when I was really little some bad people were gonna try to hurt me, but Rufus wouldn't let them. He'd done such a good job protecting me that God decided to let him go to heaven!" C.J. finished the story happily.

"Did that rally happen?" Sarah asked completely blown away by the story.

C.J. replied with another goofy grin on his face. "Yup. Yup, and that's why this is my most favorite stuffed animal ever!" He said this while hugging Rufus tightly to himself.

Sarah giggled at her friend's antics, but his next question silenced them.

"What's your favorite stuffed animal?" He asked with a smile on his face.

Sarah glanced down at the space of bed between them, then unknowingly started to imitate her friend by reaching behind her head and playing with her ponytail nervously.

"I… I don't have any, my uncle is afraid I'll burn them." She said quietly still looking down at the bed.

C.J. Looked at her with his mouth hanging open. He continued to stare and at her thinking that she might be joking, he blinked at her, blinked again, and then blinked a third time. She wasn't joking.

This had him completely dumb struck. This didn't fit what his four year old mind considered the laws of the universe: mommy and daddy are always right, milk should always have chocolate in it when possible, anything good for you or the color green tasted bad, and kids should have stuffed animals!

Thinking about this he turned the Rufus toy around in his hands so that it was facing him. He stared at it for several moments with a look that was a perfect cross between his daddy's "serious face" and the expression his mommy had when she was in "mission mode".

Throughout their lives children do many crazy things to simply test whether something their parents said them is true or not. C.J. was about to do just that and test something he had heard all his life, especially around the holidays.

Sarah was still looking down at the bed when he reached over and gently shook her shoulder. Looking up Sarah saw C.J. beaming at her with a huge smile as he held out his favorite toy. "Here, you can have Rufus if you want." He said with one hand still on her shoulder and the other holding the stuffed animal for her to take.

Sarah hesitate for a few moments half expecting him to pull away the toy at the last moment as a cruel joke. Finally she slowly reached up with both hands to accept the toy as C.J. gently let go of both her and the toy. Sarah stuttered for a moment, struggling to wrap her mind around what was going on as she looked at her new toy. "But… but, but I… It's your favorite toy!" she almost yelled.

C.J. smiled as he shrugged his shoulders and said "I know, that's why I'm giving him to you. Now he is my favorite and yours too!" his voice slowly rising with excitement.

Then before the little boy knew what was happening he was wrapped in a bear hug that made his aunt Monique look like a wimp. Oblivious, the little girl held on to her toy as she wrapped her arms around her surprised friend. The same powers that made her hands glow also made her a good bit stronger than most girls her age. Being on the receiving end of this, the helpless redheaded boy choked out the only words that came to mind. "Can't… breath…" C.J. Coughed starting to resemble one of his parent's old enemies. Letting go of him instantly, Sarah scooted back to give him some room, which C.J. took advantage of by leaning forward slightly, still coughing a little bit.

Leaning back on her knees and holding her new toy at her side, she looked at him with concern on her face. "C.J.?... are you ok?" she asked slowly.

Sitting up now, still taking in gasps of breath with his arms wrapped around himself holding his now sore ribs, he replied, in between pants of breath. "Yeah… just… give... me… a… second…"

Satisfied that her friend was ok, Sarah held Rufus in front of her as she looked at her toy with a beaming smile that almost didn't fit on her face. She couldn't believe the day she was having, not only had she made her first friend but she also got her first stuffed animal. A stuffed animal that her new friend had given to her. One that was his favorite toy in the world! That was amazing! C.J. Wasn't just her friend anymore, but what do you call someone that's better than a friend? She spent a few moments searching her mind for the right word. When she found it she had an even bigger smile on her face if that was possible. She looked up from the doll in her hands to C.J. who had just manage to sit up straight on the bed. Wearing the happiest expression of her life she announced, "You're not my friend anymore C.J.!"

This stunned the boy yet again. Had he hurt her feelings when he made her stop hugging him? He opened his mouth to respond when she yelled. "You're my best friend!"

He stopped short, again. Considering how many times this had happened since he met her, he wondered if she also had the super power to make his brain stop working. Then he was blown away as he realized what she had said. He had a best friend? When he went to class today he would have been thrilled to just make a friend. He never dreamed that he would make a best friend! But before he could properly voice his enthusiasm in the form of a very loud and" Booyha!" Sarah, his best friend, spoke again in a sad voice.

"… But are you sure you want me to have Rufus?... I, I could burn him with my powers by accident." Her voice became sadder with each word, by the end she sounded like she was about to cry.

C.J. Reached up and scratched the back of his head as he thought about this before replying. "Well… how hot do your hands get?"

Sarah calm down a little bit as she thought about that question before answering. "I… Don't know." She said hesitantly.

C.J. Scooted forward on the bed, closer to her before asking. "Well… can I feel your hands while you're powers are on?"

"Are you crazy!? I don't want to burn you either!" she said raising her voice.

C.J. shook his head quickly as he replied. "No, I'm not going to touch that stuff. I just want to feel how hot it is so I know if Rufus will be ok."

Sarah glanced down for a moment and played with her hair, still unsure, until she looked up, and got a full dose of C.J's version of the infamous and legendary puppy dog pout. She looked at her best friend's face a moment too long before covering her eyes.

"OK! OK, I'll do it! Just stop that already!" she said showing some of her mother's attitude. Peaking between her fingers to make sure it was safe, she saw C.J. wearing a victorious smile. Giving a huff of annoyance she brought her hands back down to pick up Rufus. She sat the toy down on the floor next to the bed. Then, sitting up straight, she offered her hand as if to shake and closed her eyes.

A moment later dancing plasma cover her hand. C.J. looked at the glowing shimmering shape for a moment. The color reminded him of a time when his mommy had gotten a really bad sunburn on her face that had also revealed freckles that had not been visible for years. Not knowing that this was due to the sunburn, C.J. had made the comment that she had been kissing daddy too much and got his freckles. This made his daddy laugh, as well as, cheer his mommy up a little.

And so, mesmerized by the light, Christopher James Stoppable slowly, consciously, but smoothly moved his hand toward the flame. He gently moved his hand toward Sarah's starting to feel some of the heat his best friend was generating. He had moved his hand close enough to her's that his fingers started to tingle almost touching the dancing light. Then his eyes went wide as the flame unexpectedly liked his fingertips.

C.J. snapped his eyes shut tightly waiting for the searing pain from his fingers. What he felt surprised and confused the boy, he felt….. Stronger? When he opened his eyes they were burning with his own blue fire. Without pain, he quickly took Sarah's in his. Her eyes flew open with surprise and brief panic, until she looked down to see that C.J.'s hand wasn't burning. To her surprise she saw the veins in his hand glowing blue through his skin and pulsing with his heartbeat. She looked at his face and saw the same blue flame she did earlier when he was looking out the window.

Then a ghostly flaming blue monkey tail appeared from behind C.J. and snaked its way up beside her then gently wrapped itself around her body, under her arms. She closed her eyes in fear, expecting the fiery new limb to crush and burn her. Instead the new thing that wrapped around her body felt soft and warm. It was also doing something strange, it was making her… Stronger?

Testing her newfound energy, she focused and raise the temperature of her burning hand. She felt a second later the warmth and power she was getting from C.J.'s monkey tail increased…

TBC