Disclaimer: I don't own any of the character, situations or locations from the television series Kim Possible. I reap no monetary gains from the use of those things. I write for the strict enjoyment of the process and to hermit myself away from the rest of society.
Author's Note: This story stems solely from the following quote: "Tell me, O Muse, of the ingenious Hero who traveled far and wide..." Homer - The Odyssey.
Again I ask you, would you work for an organization that you've always wanted to join, or would you turn Global Justice down because the boss occasionally bends the law to meet their own whims.
Xxxxxx
Travel
Chapter 6
The Decision
Xxxxxx
Ron finished slathering sunscreen on his girlfriend's back. Kim thoroughly enjoyed the private back rub her boyfriend was giving her as she laid face down in a beach lounge chair while laying out in the sun. The strings of her bikini bra were untied and the bottoms were scrunched up to allow more sunshine to hit her butt and leave less tan lines. The feelings she was experiencing while laying there practically naked with her boyfriend by her side made her a bit giddy.
"There you go, KP," Ron happily chimed as he gently patted her partially clad bubble butt before getting up and moving over to the lounge next to Kim's. "You're good for another twenty or thirty minutes before you should turn over." He was wearing a simple pair of board shorts. Well simple, if you don't count the extremely loud Hawaiian floral design.
"Thank you Ron," Kim lazily responded, thoroughly enjoying the pat on the behind. She was quickly getting used to the simple, intimate gesture, as was her boyfriend in giving it. During their tryst in Australia one week ago, Kim had definitely decided that Ron truly was her one-and-only, forever-and-a-day, 'significant other', and that they could be a bit more familiar with each other; especially if they were going to occasionally slip off to the bedroom and make love. (Which they had done quite a few times during the week while their parents were at work.) The loving grope on her glutius muscle only showed her that he now felt a lot more comfortable with their current state of intimacy and she returned the gesture as often as she could.
Out of sight of her father, of course.
The blond boy let out a contented sigh as he settled prone on his back into the comfortable, reclined lounge chair next to Kim's. After a few seconds, he raised his head to look over to his girlfriend and asked, "Do you really think we did the right thing? I mean you were kinda looking forward to joining GJ after college."
"I'm positive, Ron." Kim raised her head and shoulders up a little and settled on crossed arms; not enough to expose her breasts but enough to turn and talk to her beau. The Possible's backyard wasn't fenced in just yet, it being the last thing needing to be rebuilt, so there was the distinct possibility that the neighbors could observe the two teens. "I so don't want my ethics to become as jaded as Dr. Director's. Working for an organization with as little oversight as GJ has can only lead to corruption of the soul. We've been doing just fine with the support we get from Wade and I don't see any reason to change."
She and Ron had discussed the job offer with their parents (but didn't exactly reveal what the spying had entailed) and they all had come to the conclusion that working for Global Justice would be a bad thing, despite the possible good that would've come out of it. Other people could train the GJ agents and if the secret agency wanted good food, well then they would just have to hire a proper chef.
"I totally agree with you," Ron chimed as he sat up in his lounge chair and turned to face her. "Any company that has Will Du as their top agent ain't someplace I'd wanna join." He wistfully looked around the backyard before he said, "But it woulda been nice to have a paid vacation to see the world and also get a free ride through college. No offense, but your parent's backyard can't compare to the sights of the world or the beaches in Hawaii."
"No they don't, but I'm sure Wade can set us up with a virtual reality system that can show us all of the usually sightseeing attractions," Kim responded as she laid back down and got comfortable again. "And the sun is the same everywhere in the world. I can get a tan lying here just as well as on a beach in Hawaii. As for college, our parents have probably saved up enough for us to get by on."
"Well, at least GJ was able to take care of Duff," Ron laughed as he laid back down.
"Yes," Kim sighed, "but I think sending twenty agents to arrest him was a little excessive, even though half of them were injured by Killigan's exploding golf balls during the mission. We could've brought Killigan in without so much as a bruise and minimal damage to the golf course."
"Yeah," Ron chuckled as he shuffled around to get more comfortable. "The fifth, sixth and thirteenth golf holes will never be the same with all of the new bunkers Duff dug up... not to mention the nineteenth hole was totally trashed."
"Ron, that wasn't the nineteenth hole," Kim giggled at his obvious lack of knowledge of the 'Auld Game'. "That was the practice putting green."
"Oh," Ron gasped in realization. "I thought they just had a gopher problem or something with all the holes in it."
The two teens were just settling in for an afternoon of marinating when they heard the glass doors to the house slide open. Kim quickly reached back and straightened out the bikini bottom that she'd scrunched up to expose more of her alabaster butt, then tied her bra top back on before she sat up.
"Don't worry, Kimmie," Dr. Anne Possible said with a sly chuckle, having seen her daughter hastily getting 'dressed' as she closed the door. "Your father isn't home just yet. I came out here to tell you that Ron's parents are due to come over in about a half hour."
"Mom and dad are coming over?" Ron questioned as he got up and moved over to Kim's chair to sit next to her. "Why?"
"They said they have a couple of announcements that will affect both you and Kim," Anne coyly said as she adjusted the back of Ron's vacated chair and casually sat down in it. "The announcements have something to do with paying for college, so they're coming over and we're making it a cookout celebration."
"Oh no," Ron groaned and slumped a bit, his normal fears and phobias rearing their ugly head. "I bet mom and dad are gonna tell me that they use my tuition money on converting my bedroom into Hanna's room, or that they'd decided to spent it all on a vacation this summer."
Anne just smiled at the boy's rant since she had a fairly good idea of what the news actually was.
Xxxxxx
Kim had donned Ron's #7 high school football jersey, her new favorite casual top to wear, and a pair of gym shorts over her bikini for the cookout while Ron had slipped on his old red hockey jersey. The steaks were on the grill manned by Mr. Dr. Possible and Ron had whipped up some cole slaw and potato salad with the help of his girlfriend. (Actually, Kim had only peeled and cut up the potatoes and julienned the carrots, then stood back to watch... but she had done something in the kitchen without causing any major damage.)
Dean Stoppable tapped the side of his glass of lemonade with a plastic spork to get everybody's attention as he called out, "Now that we're all here, I have something to tell you."
"Is this about my tuition money for college, dad?" Ron anxiously blurted out. "Cause if it is, I'm sure KP wouldn't mind going to college alone for a year or so while I keep my job at Smarty Mart so I can build up the account again."
Nobody was phased by the blond boy's frantic rambling, they were all used to it. Mr. Stoppable just smiled and nodded. "Why, yes this is about your tuition and job at Smarty Mart, Ronald. But it's not what you think."
"So, what is the announcement, Dean?" James Possible begged his friend.
"Well," Dean answered as he nervously rubbed the back of his neck, a gesture Ron had obviously inherited from his father, "while I wouldn't object to Ronald keeping his job just to build more character, I also wouldn't object if he cut back on his hours or quit altogether."
"But the money Ron earns at Smarty Mart normally pays for the food he buys at Bueno Nacho," Kim observed. "Tuition and books are expensive. Will you be giving him an allowance for the other things he'll need, like for the food or to help pay for gas when we drive to the university every day?"
"No, I won't," Dean Stoppable cryptically answered. "Ron will pay for it all, including all of your college expenses, Kimberly."
"What?" Ron yelped in confusion. "How can I pay for mine and KP's school and stuff, and pay for our snackage and help buy gas for the car while I'm trying to save up enough to buy an engagement ring for KP?"
"An engagement ring, Ronald?" James warily inquired with a touch of fatherly over-protectiveness thrown in as he swiftly turned around from flipping the steaks on the grill to confront the boy. "When were you going to tell me that you wanted to marry my daughter?"
"Hee hee!" Ron nervously laughed, blushed and anxiously rubbed the back of his neck. "I guess this is my way of telling you, Mr. Dr. P.. It'll be a long engagement so the ceremony won't happen until after we're done with college. But I thought I'd better get a ring on her finger as soon as possible."
"I think what Dean is getting at," Anne Possible quickly cut in to bring the topic of conversation back around to where it should be, (even though she was thoroughly enjoying the little bit of drama that had been taking place between her husband and future son-in-law,) "is that Ron already has the money to do all of that and more. If you all remember, he received a royalty check for ninety-nine million dollars during his sophomore year for inventing the Naco."
"Yeah, but I lost it all when Drakken robbed me," Ron angrily grumbled, thinking about how the blue-skinned villain literally picked his pockets after he'd been captured.
"Yes you did, Ron," Anne said in a kind, understanding voice. "But what you don't understand or realize is that royalties are not normally a one time thing. You received that first check to cover the first year after you invented the Naco. It hasn't been discontinued in the past two years so you should still be receiving a nickel for every Naco sold worldwide."
"And the Naco has been gaining in popularity over the past two years," Dean chuckled as he pulled a piece of paper out of his back pocket, unfolded it and handed it to James. "That means Ronald's second royalty check was larger than the first. And this year's check, which should be arriving in a few weeks, should be larger still."
"This can't be right," James muttered to no one as he read and reread the bank statement in his hand. "Ronald is worth a little over one hundred and fifty million dollars?" He did some quick calculations in his head and marveled, "That means over 3 billion Nacos were sold in one year!"
"It wasn't quite that many," Dean laughed as he pulled out a second piece of paper and handed it to James. "I took some of the second check and invested it. Approximately thirty million dollars of the one-fifty are dividends from my investments." James and Dean huddled up in front of the barbeque grill as they quietly discussed the finer points of the two pages and kept an eye on the steaks.
"A hundred and ff-fif-fif..." Ron stuttered in astonishment before he suddenly snapped out of it with a smile that threatened to split his whole head in half. "A-BOO YAH! I can buy a car or two... or twenty... and a yacht and a mansion in Upperton and-and-and a..." He was cut off by Kim.
"NO, Ron! You are not going to throw your money around like you did with your first check."
"But KP..." Ron tried to argue with his girlfriend.
"No buts, Ron," Kim firmly said with a scowl. "If I see just a hint of "The Ron" showing up, you will never kiss me again!" Kim was so upset that she actually used so passe air quotes around that god-awful nickname he'd come up with at the time.
Ron raise a finger to make a point but Jan Stoppable wrapped a motherly arm around her son's shoulders and whispered, "I know what you're thinking Ronnie, but forget about it. Why try to find a new girlfriend when you have a lifelong friend that's willing to marry you standing right in front of you?"
The tow-headed boy slowly lowered his finger as he thought about what his mother had said. He remembered all of the false friends, including Bonnie Rockwaller, that had latched onto him after he received his first check. Then he tried to imagine what his life would be like with whatever the wealth would bring him, but without Kim in it. That kind of life was unfathomable. Ron just couldn't picture himself in the future without her by his side.
"You're right mom," Ron said as his excitement from the news was brushed aside by the thoughts of what he'd became after he received the first royalty check. The money induced popularity was great but it had turned him into a self absorbed, callous snob. (Baby lettuce indeed!) After he'd lost it all, Ron had realized what an awful friend he had been to Kim. He turned to the younger redhead, nervously rubbed the back of his neck and said, "I'm sorry KP. I was going into a repeat mode of the first check. I guess you're kinda disappointed in me."
"I'm not disappointed in you sweetie," Kim cooed as she lovingly ran her fingers through his golden locks. "My first thoughts when I heard about your wealth was that we could buy a building that we could use as a base of operations, with all new gadgets to save the world with. We'd each have our own hover jet and assault vehicles and a dozen super suits each to wear. Kind of a silly dream, huh?"
"I don't know about the dozen super suits each," Jan said as she brought Kim into the affectionate hug with her son, "but a nice, large house to live in and store your equipment in sounds feasible. You'll need a house that'll also be big enough for all of your children to grow up in. I expect at least three or four grandchildren from you two in the future."
"Only three or four?" Anne chuckled. "I remember Kimmie once telling me that she was going to have at least a dozen kids with Ronnie."
"MOM!" Kim yelped, blushing from embarrassment, as she and Ron broke away from Jan's grasp. "I was barely five years old at the time and didn't know what a dozen of anything meant!"
"Yes," Anne agreed with a brilliant smile, "but the point I was making was that even at that time you thought that you'd be married to Ron."
"The steaks are ready," James Possible called out from his spot beside the grill, desperately trying to change the subject and all of the talk about marriage and grandchildren. "It's time to eat."
Kim was extremely relieved that her father had been talking to Mr. Stoppable and tending the grill after Ron mentioned that they wished to get married in the future. She knew her mother was in favor of her and Ron tying the knot in the future, but her father had a protective streak that was a mile wide so her mom getting the discussion back on topic came at just the right time. Kim knew her father would bring up Ron's slip of the tongue later on, but for now she'd let it drop like he had.
As the four adults, four youngsters and one baby sat down to eat, Dean Stoppable said, "Getting back to the Naco royalties. Jan and I thought it'd be a wonderful gesture to use some of the money to pay for Kimberly and Ronald's college. They both plan on attending Middleton University this fall so maybe they'd even like to rent an apartment or house near the campus. We've also set aside a trust fund for Jim and Tim's college along with one for Hanna..." He looked over to Ron and quickly added, "...if that's okay with you, son."
"Sure, dad," Ron swiftly agreed.
"That's awful thoughtful of you Dean," James Possible said as he passed out the steaks, "but Anne and I have more than enough put away for Kimmie and the boy's college needs. We started saving right after Kimmie was born, and that tidy little sum has come in handy whenever Jim and Tim launch one of their rockets. We've been able to take out low-interest loans, backed by the money, to make repairs whenever that happened."
"If any of those loans are pending," Jan Stoppable said as she added a scoop of potato salad and cole slaw to her plate, "then you can pay them off with the college funds you have in the bank. We insist that we at least pay for Kimmie's college."
"Hicka-bicka-boo?" Jim slyly said with a mischievous twinkle in his eye to his twin brother.
"Hoo-sha!" Tim said, giving Jim a high five.
"No boys," Anne quickly admonished her two sons. "This doesn't mean you're free to cause any further damage. You're still forbidden from having rockets or any other kind of experiment in the house. If you cause any damage to our new home," she pointed to the now completed structure, "the cost of the repairs will come out of your college funds." (So many people wanted to reward Team Possible for thwarting the invasion that five different construction firms had worked on the house, getting it ready to occupy in just over one week.)
"Awwww Maaaan," the twins whined in unison, " Hoo-sha denied!"
"Okay, Dean," James said, getting back on topic as he cut into his juicy steak grilled to perfection. "I guess it'll be alright for Ronald's funds to pay for the kid's college tuition. But I have to put my foot down on Kimmie and Ronald renting someplace close to campus. The University is only seventeen miles from here so I think they should still live at home."
"So you can keep an eye on them at night?" Dean slyly asked like it was the rest of James' sentence.
"Exactly! So I can keep an eye on them at night!" James said with a firm nod as if he agreed. Then he realized what he'd said, coughed to clear his throat and stuttered, "I mean... er, um.. because...ah, renting an apartment can be very expensive."
"And one hundred fifty million dollars wouldn't cover that?" Kim coyly queried before she took a forkful of potato salad in her mouth.
"You're right James," Jan said with a wry smile. "Renting can be expensive, but the kids really should live closer to campus. That way they can get the total college experience." She scratched his her chin in thought for a second before she added, "As I suggested before, maybe we should find a house near campus to buy and fix up for Ronnie and Kim. That way they'd be investing their money and accruing equity on the property."
"That's an excellent idea. Then they wouldn't be spending a lot of money on expensive gas, too," Dean said with a sly, growing smile.
"Well, I suppose if we want them to get the total college experience, they could live in separate dorm rooms," James glumly said, knowing he was losing the battle and most likely the entire war to keep his Kimmie-Cub chaste and pure.
"No can do, Dr. P.," Ron said through a mouthful of steak, potato salad and cole slaw combined. He swallowed the lump of food and continued. "M. U. (he pronounced it Moo,) told us that the only way they'd let us go to classes there was if we lived off campus. They're afraid that us getting on a VTOL or helicopter for a mission at any time of the day or night might disrupt the other students and lead to Animology."
"Animosity," Kim quickly corrected her beau before she clarified his statement. "The University is concerned that other students seeing us being picked up somewhere on campus for a mission might lead them to think that Ron and I are receiving special treatment. Their only rule about missions is that our pick-up point is somewhere off campus."
"Which is okay," Ron continued Kim's thought, "since we'll be heading off to missions in the Sloth most of the time anyway. We can drive off campus and then take to the skies."
"But they're also concerned that we'll wake everybody up if we need to leave in the middle of the night," Kim quickly added. "That's the main reason why they don't want us living on campus."
"So," Anne recapped the last few minutes of conversation, "Kimmie and Ron have to live off campus. If they live at home and have a mission, they'd have to drive home to change before they could leave. That would take at least a half hour which could be crucial in stopping the villains. That means that they'll need to buy a house somewhere near campus to park the car and keep their equipment at since we don't want to waste money on rent or gas."
Dr. Anne Possible knew her statement was flawed, that Kim and Ron always kept a set of mission gear in the car, but Anne thought it was time for Kim to move out of the house. She was fully in favor of the two teens getting married in the future and if her daughter did move out, then there would be one less target for her sons to prank and the house may just settle down a bit from its normally chaotic state.
"I've already made a few inquiries," Jan said with a joyous, beaming bright smile to the Possible adults. "There are a couple of realty agencies that have houses on the market in that area and I've narrowed the search down to three. Since tomorrow is Saturday, I don't have to be in to work. I can take Kimmie and Ronnie around to see them."
"Oh good!" Anne exclaimed. "I have the day off, too." She turned to her daughter and her boyfriend and excitedly said, "We can pick out the perfect house in the morning and then go shopping for furniture and everything else you'll need during the rest of the weekend. Won't that be fun?"
"Do we need to buy a house right away?" Kim questioned, getting excited about the prospect of being alone in her own home with Ron, but maybe wanting the whole buying process to take a little longer. After all, shopping for clothes and such was a lot of fun, so shopping for a house should be a lot more exciting and should be drawn out to get the most from the experience. "I mean we have all summer to search for just the right house."
"I think it would be wise to find a house right away," Dean put his two cents in as he fed Hanna a spoonful of strained carrots before returning to his own meal. "You can immediately move in and take all summer to get a feel for the area. Plus you can also wander around the campus and learn where everything is. That way you won't get lost or turned around when school starts and you're on your way to class."
Anne, Jan, Dean and Kim huddled up and all started talking at once, discussing what type of houses were available, how many rooms would be needed and what style of furniture to shop for.
Ron tried to listen in like he was interested in what they were talking about but he was more concerned with his empty plate being filled again and a little more than wary of a full day of shopping tomorrow with three women.
James Possible's head dropped to the table top as he let out a heavy sigh. He had lost the battle and more than likely the entire war. His little Kimmie-Cub was going to move out of the house and live with Ronald no matter what he suggested or how much he protested.
Jim saw his father's sudden despondent disposition, leaned over and asked, "What's the matter, dad?"
Without thinking, James replied, "I'm just concerned that Kimmie and Ronald living together will lead to me being a grandfather much sooner than I'd like it to happen."
Jim and Tim turned to the other with a mischievous smile on their faces as they began to sing, "Kimmie and Ronnie, sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes love, then comes marriage. Then comes Kimmie with a baby carriage!"
"Booooys, there will be no baby carriages! At least not until after you two are out of high school!" James vehemently said to his sons, his hands coming down hard on the table for emphasis as he sat up straight.
"Knowing how much trouble Jim and Tim can get into," Ron casually said as he filled his plate for a third (or was it a fourth) time with more potato salad and cole slaw, "they'll be the ones who'll be pushing baby buggies around before KP and me."
Jim and Tim's shocked faces slowly turned to the other as the thought of them pushing cootie infested prams around with bawling kids seeped into their overactive imaginations. Shock quickly turned to nauseating disgust. They pushed their half eaten plates of food away and Tim groaned, "Suddenly, I'm not very hungry."
Jim swiftly got up from the table, his hand over his mouth as if he was ready to barf. "Can we be excused?" Tim also looked a little green around the gills. The two boys darted for the house and quickly disappeared.
"Thank you Ronald," James said to the blond boy with a chuckle. "I never did like that little ditty ever since my college friends taunted me with it when Anne and I found out she was pregnant just before we received our doctorates."
"So you and Mrs. Dr. P. got married in college?" Ron curiously queried, trying to get a time line on his girlfriend's parent's courtship. Ron's question also caught Kim's attention so she eavesdropped on her father's answer.
"Nope," Dr. P lightly laughed, his mind drifting back to his wedding day. "The ceremony took place one week after we received our doctorates."
"Oh HO!" Ron immediately jumped on that little bit of information. He'd always feared Mr. Dr. P.'s overprotective streak and the threat of black holes, but this was something he could use to deflect the threat. "So you and Mrs. Dr. P. were shacking up before you got married. That sounds like the pot is calling the kettle black and blue."
"You mean the pot calling the kettle black, Ron," Kim said with a sly smile. "It goes along with the old saying, 'people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones', or threaten trips to black holes."
Rufus sat up from gnawing the remaining meat from Ron's T-bone and nodded, "Uh-huh, uh-huh. Hypocritical!"
"Now wait just a minute, Kimmie-Cub," James tried to justify his point. "Your mother and I were five or six years older than you are now when we got married. I think you should wait until you're out of college before you and Ronald become... active, in that way. You never know just what may happen between now and when you graduate. I mean you two might break up or find someone else."
"You might be unsure of what will happen between Ron and me," Kim vehemently stated as she stood up from the table and threw down her napkin in anger, "but I'm positive that we will be together for the rest of our lives! Now if you'll excuse me, please-and-thank-you-very-much!" She quickly stormed off into the house.
"I think she's mad at you, Dr P.," Ron said as he got up and started to follow his girlfriend. Suddenly he stopped, ran back to the table, forked a huge sporkful of potato salad into his mouth, then dashed into the house to find and calm down his girlfriend.