Stepping Up: Ron Night
It's Official
It was Friday night, just a week has elapsed since the Camp Wannaweep sitch with Ron's former camp buddy Gil. Ron began training with Rabbi Katz at a gym, where the rabbi was instructing Ron in Israeli military contact combat fighting. Fortunate for Ron, it was the week of Spring Break for Middleton Independent School District, so he could concentrate on his training. Kim at the moment was kneeling on the floor in her family room, giving her best friend in the world an upper body massage. When she was starting in martial arts, her mother used to do this for her to aid in relaxing her muscles, so they could recover faster.
For the past week, Ron has met the rabbi, and Kim would go with him, as much as she could. They spent twelve hours a day, from five am to half past six pm, drilling punches and kicks, elbows and knees, or combinations of them all. When not doing that, the rabbi was teaching Ron strength training, using kettle bells. Ron was required to run for an hour on his way home for cardio/endurance training. Kim would sit to the side when she could attend and lend inspiration, to Ron as the counterpoint, to the harsh language the rabbi would use to motivate his pupil.
Certainly, not much growth was made the first three days of training, but by the third day Kim noticed Ron was not as tired or as worn out as the first two days. Kim respected the style from a technical stand point, it was effective, easy to learn, and remarkably vicious. She understood now, how Israel has survived since its foundation in 1947, when most of its neighbors would like nothing better than to see it wiped from the face of the Earth. There were no forms like in her sixteen styles of martial arts, because there was no time to learn such things in that hostile environment. Even if she had no intention of trying to learn it, she did pick up a few technical nuances that she would try to implement in her own training. This isn't about me it's for Ron, I'm here for him.
While present as much of the time, Kim pretty much stayed out of the way and never interfered. She fully was in favor of Ron's efforts to better himself, as long as he remained her Ron. Kim loved Ron Stoppable the way he was, the only problem he had was a lack of confidence. Kim kneaded the tired muscles of her best friend, the way her mother showed her during the week. She was already starting to feel some firmness in his arm muscles, as she worked her way down it. She studied his physique, from going swimming with him she knew that despite the mountains of Bueno Nacho he ate every week, he rarely gained any fat and he was even a little skinny, even before the training began. He would never be a bodybuilder, but once he added some muscle, he would be lean and strong.
The twelve-hour work sessions, would go down to three hours a day, except Sundays, once Monday arrived. Therefore, tomorrow after Temple he was going to the sporting goods store and buying some ankle and wrist weights. He would wear them during the school day and the training sessions. Ron had been reading men's health and fitness magazines, and learned that time and effort were necessary for fitness. "If I can't put in the time, I'll put in the effort," Ron said. Kim moves from his arm to his back, her delicate, strong fingers pressing on tired trapezius, and deltoid muscles, she could feel them relax under her touch. Ron would be off Fridays for Ron nights like tonight, and Saturdays, which was the Sabbath, when he went to Temple to allow his body to rest.
Ron lay face down on the living room floor with only his shirt off, as Kim pressed and kneaded his sore muscles. When he came over tonight Kim could tell that he was exhausted, as anyone would be after a full five days of training. Kim insisted on staying in tonight and it was Anne Possible who suggested the massage. It was Sunday morning, the first day of training, when Kim went to her mom and asked how she could help Ron with his training.
Anne thought about it, and remembered how she helped her daughter, when Kim began seriously training in martial arts and gymnastics. "Kimmie, remember, how I helped you when you first started to seriously study Chinese martial arts, and gymnastics?"
Kim thought back to when she was four, a couple of days after she met Ron in pre-K. "Yeah, I remember, I came home barely able to stand, let alone do anything else, I didn't even want to see Ron. You gave me a bath, then after dinner, you took me up to my bedroom, but before you tucked me in you undressed me and started to rub my shoulders, legs, arms, and torso. I woke up the next morning still sore, but way better than the night before."
Kim's mother nodded and went into health professional lecture mode. "If you remember from your health class and lessons I taught you myself, when you exercise you are essentially damaging your body. Working out causes the muscle fibers to tear, tendons and ligaments to stretch, and when they heal, they are a little bit more durable and robust than they were before. The rubdowns I gave you, allowed your body to adapt to the sudden increase in activity, more quickly."
Kim thought about it and nodded in agreement, "I would not mind giving Ron the same kind of rubdowns, but how will dad react, to his little Kimmie-cub putting her hands on a boy's nearly naked body?"
Anne laughed, "Well, as long as we are around when you do them, I don't think your father will have a problem with it. He'll understand that while they are intimate, there is nothing erotic, or sexual in nature in these massages. I will teach you how to do them, which areas to touch or not, and you'll do them in the living room on Fridays. Those are your Ron Nights after all, right?" Kim nodded, "Then its official, Fridays are now designated Ron nights."
Hence, on the day Ron began his training, Kimberly began hers in the art of acupressure. She moves her hands down the lats closest to herself, paying particular attention to the lumbar region of the back. Kim is stationed on the left side of her best friend's body. Ron had protested the massage, because in his mind it was a very intimate activity, until she unleashed the dreaded… Puppy Dog Pout. Ron wilted like a soggy tortilla, as she made him lay on the soft carpet of her living room. At first, he refused to take off his shirt, but Kim can be very persuasive when she wishes to be, for the first time her voice took on a sultry vibe. "Come on, Ronnie, show me what you got." Ron would defy any heterosexual man to resist when a woman, as hot as Kim, uses that kind of voice. Hmm, I guess my Ronnie, really is a man. Kim giggled quietly, realizing she has another weapon in her arsenal to use against her Ron.
At that moment, Kim's mother walked in from the kitchen. James had been called to the Cape to help troubleshoot an issue with the space shuttle's heating tiles. The twins were at separate space camps, on opposite ends of the nation, for spring break. The Possible parental units hypothesizing, if the twins were separated by a whole continent, then they might be less likely to cause mayhem, so far, the supposition was holding true, with one more day before clear results would be discovered. Anne watched as her eldest child, tenderly but firmly caressed the back of her, son from another mother, as she thought of Ron Stoppable. Both Possible parents, thanked God and Jesus Christ, every week in church, for the day their Kimmie met her best friend. They both knew that Ron, would never hesitate to risk his life for their daughter, if it ever called for it.
Dr. Anne Possible knelt on the other side from her daughter. Ron who was her son, in all but name, was as precious to her as the three children she bore. She began to knead and press on the other side of his body, along his arms from his wrists, to his elbow joint. Ron turned his head in surprise at the contact from the elder Possible woman, he opened his mouth to speak. Anne placed her finger over his lips, before caressing his cheek like she has a thousand times with Jim, Tim, and Kim, a silent message that all children could comprehend from their mothers. She saw his eyes begin to shine before he suddenly turned away, they both heard him sniff quietly. He felt tears roll down his face and into the carpet, he had never felt anything like this before. For the first time in his life Ronald Michael Stoppable felt the unconditional love of a mother.
Kim watched the exchange between, her mom and her best friend, and it melted her heart. They looked at each other their own eyes shining, Kim understood that the massage was more than just an attempt to alleviate sore muscles. They both continued their ministrations, Anne moves along his back muscles, caressing and pressing. She felt Ron relax even more and let go of more than just the stress of his workouts. Both women conveyed their love for the young man that wove his way into their hearts a long time ago, the love from each woman toward him was different. One continued to put across, the love of a mother for her son, regardless of who birthed him, the other started to allow her feelings for him to grow beyond mere friendship, into something else.