Ch. 6 Roses

First thing Ron did was tear into the package his dad gave him. It turned out to be a book, a book he had been waiting for his father to send. 'Wolves of Calla,' he thought. 'Thanks Dad.'

"LIEUTENANT STOPPABLE!" yelled a voice from behind him. He turned around to see his new psyker glaring daggers at him.

Taking a long drag of his Lho, then exhaling the smoke and spitting out some excess saliva, which caused Kim to show a brief look of disgust, he turned to her and calmly said, "Yes?"

He took this opportunity to take in her appearance; her hair was tied back into a ponytail, though Ron thought it might look better if it was down. Her face, had it not a scowl on it, might have been pretty. The dress was something Ron had a definite opinion about though, to some it might come to represent her nobility but to Ron Stoppable, all it did was remind him of blood.

"I demand an apology for insulting my father," she said. Ron took another long drag of his Lho, then turned around and walked away. Kim stood there for a moment then followed him. Ron made his to the flagpole, where the wounded were being treated.

By the time Kim had caught up, he was talking to the Sergeant she met earlier. "Reaper," Ron addressed. "You've seen Gun Bunny anywhere?"

"Showers, LT," Reaper answered. Ron nodded his thanks, then turned around and headed towards another destination, 'Where's he going now?' Kim thought as she followed him to the outskirts of Wolf's Den. But before they where out of earshot, Reaper called to him and said, "Hey LT. You think you could put some Blue Oyster Cult on?"

'Blue Oyster Cult?' Kim thought. 'Are they speaking about heretics?'"Sure," Ron called back. "As soon as I can get to it."

They approached a small building that had a sign hung over the door that read 'SHOWERS' and at that point Kim understood where the Lieutenant was heading. 'He wouldn't. He couldn't.' But he walked right into the showers. Instinct took over and she followed him inside. When she entered, she saw the Lieutenant conversing with a woman obviously taking a shower. Kim also saw that the woman was inside a wooden cubicle that was constructed to preserve privacy and for that Kim was thankful. After all this is where she herself will be bathing. The woman had short brown hair that went to her shoulders and blue-green eyes. On her left shoulder was what appeared to be a tattoo of a silhouette of a rabbit holding a double-barreled shotgun.

"Possible," Ron said. "Are you going to follow me where ever I go?"

"Possible?" the woman asked. "As in Kim Possible? The Princess of the Imperium?"

"Yep," Ron answered. "What the fuck is she doing here?" the woman asked. "She's are new psyker, Bunny. Say hello." Kim stepped forward and extended her head for the other woman to shake.

The woman shook her hand somewhat reluctantly. "Sergeant Major Bonnie Rockwaller," introducing herself. "Is that why they call you Gun Bunny?" Kim asked, indicating to her tattoo. "That and because of this…" she said turning so that they could see her right side. On her right shoulder was another tattoo. It also depicted a rabbit, but not an ordinary rabbit. This rabbit looked as if had been taking Psychon, it was muscular and mean looking. It wore a bandana around its head and had a cigar in its teeth. In each of its hand was a lasgun and bandoliers of power packs crisscrossing across its chest. Underneath the rabbit was a scroll that read 'Am I cute now Motherfucker?'.

"And this…" She said reaching down and drawing a pistol. "Why would you have that here?" Kim asked. "It's like a condom," Bonnie answered. "I'd rather have it and not need it, than need it and not have it." "Like you've ever used a condom, Bunny," Ron said chuckling. "How would you know?" Bonnie asked. "Because I know that you've fucked every guy in this unit," answered Ron. "Excluding you," Bonnie retorted. "And why is that, LT?" she said crossing her arms. "Are you just not into woman?"

"Hey I'm no homo," Ron said, raising his hands defensively. "Is that so?" Bonnie said, turning off the showers and stepping out of the cubical. She stood there for a moment while Kim averted her eyes and Ron stared with a bored expression on his face. Bonnie looked down and asked, "What no hard-on?" "In my defense," Ron said. "I've seen you naked so many times that it doesn't do anything anymore." "I'll give you that one," Bonnie said, nodding.

She started to get dress when Ron said, "Alright, Possible, let's get you taken care of." Before they left the showers, Bonnie called and said, "Hey LT, you think you could some W.K. on?" "Sorry Bunny" Ron said. "But Reaper asked for Blue Oyster Cult." "Damn," Bonnie said. "After?" "We'll see. Lets go Possible." He said leaving the showers with Kim following.

"So how'd you like Drakken?" Ron asked as they headed for Kim's quarters. "Who?" Kim asked. "Our Commissar," Ron said. "Scar, blue skin, he's hard to miss." "You mean Commissar Lipsky. Yes I met him, and I found his company to be somewhat more pleasurable then yours." Ron chuckled. "So you do have a sense of humor. That's good to know." "So why do you call him Drakken?" Kim asked. "Earlier in his career," Ron began. "Lipsky touched down on Krieg but the dumbass forgot to put a mask on and the exposure caused his skin to turn blue. Drakken was the name of the city where he landed." "Oh," Kim nodding her understanding.

As they reached Kim's quarters, Cadia's sun had begun to set. Ron looked at his watch and said, "I got to be somewhere." He looked at Kim and asked, "You can open the door by yourself, can't you, Princess?" Kim turned to glare at him. Ron held his hands up defensively, "Hey, relax," he said, before turning around and walking off. "Some people can't take a joke." Kim walked into her quarters and found it very similar to her room back on Terra. There was a bed, with a footlocker at the end of it, in one corner and a desk in the opposite corner. Her things had been brought here before hand and she was again thankful.

She began to settle into her new home. She set the bag she had been carrying on the bed and unzipped it. She had carried this piece of luggage because she didn't trust anyone else but her to carry it, for inside was her most valued treasure: her Pandaroo. She set it at the corner of her bed, next to the pillow.

Then she placed under the blanket, "This really isn't a place for you," she said to it, thinking of would happen if the 'wolves' got a hold of it. She then moved to the truck that contained her clothes and began to get ready for bed. Her night attire was a long white gown similar to her current dress with long sleeves and hem reaching her ankles. She quickly changed for it seemed that privacy was a luxury that she did not have at this place. She climbed into bed, wrapped her arms around her Pandaroo and drifted off to sleep but there were no peaceful dreams for her.

Dreams of fire, of blood, of war plagued her sleep and they ended, she woke up in a cold sweat. She could feel that these feelings of despair and anxiety was coming from someone else. She concentrated on these feelings for a moment, trying to locate the source. She located the source and found that it wasn't too far away, she got bed and went out the door. As she closed the distance between the source and herself, the feelings of anxiety and despair grew stronger, almost overwhelming. Whoever it was experiencing these feelings was in small hut with a sign that read 'ROSE GARDEN' just above the door frame. Kim doubted that it was a garden, after all roses where all but extinct. She opened the door and was hit by a bright light and the smell of something Kim couldn't identify. When her eyes adjusted the light she saw the hut was an indoor garden of red flowers.

"Roses," she nearly gasped, not just from the flowers but the anxiety and despair vanished nearly instantly. "Yep," she heard a voice say coming from her left. She saw Lieutenant Stoppable wearing gloves and holding a pair of pruning shears in his hand. "Beautiful aren't they?" he asked. "Yes," Kim answered. "But how?" "I acquired some seeds from an old vendor on Catachan, believe it or not." "So this is where you had to be," Kim concluded. "Yeah," Ron said. "I come here to…relax." The feelings returned but not as strong and Kim realized that they were coming from him.

"Would you like one?" Ron asked, snapping her out of her thoughts. Kim shook her head and said, "I couldn't. Then you'd lose one of you lovely flowers." "I insist," Ron said. "Take it as my apology for your Father." Kim smiled, "Okay. If you insist." She reached out to the rose nearest to her and tried to pluck it. But as soon as she touched the stem, one of the thorns cut her finger. She pulled her hand back and inspected the damage. Before she could do anything about it, Ron had come and wrapped his large hand around her small one, the gloves and shears discarded. "Its not that bad," he said, producing a band-aid from his pocket. "You carry those around with you?" Kim asked. "I used to get cut a lot here before I started wearing gloves."

He wrapped the band-aid around her finger but when he had finished, his hand still held her's. Kim could feel the heat rush to her cheeks and she was sure that she was blushing. "Uhm, Lieutenant," she said. "You can let go now." He still held her hand, even as he spoke, "Sorry, its just that…" he paused. "Your hand is so smooth and soft." Kim felt more heat rise to her cheeks. As he released her hand, her fingers grazed across his palm, it was roughed and calloused. They starred at each other for a moment before Ron turned around and plucked the same flower that Kim had tried to pick just moments before. He held it up for her to take, as she reached for it with her unbandaged hand, Ron said, "Grip it between the thorns." She did as she was told and took the rose from him. "Goodnight…Kim," he said before walking away. As she left the garden and returned to her quarters, a thought came to her mind, 'He called me by my name."

Psychon- Increases strength by adrenaline manipulation, though places the user in an uncontrollable rage

A/N: Review! Review I say! Reviews are like heroin to me.

Not that I know what heroin is like. (Looks about, then covers forearms with sleeves)