Blue Eyes, Shining - Intermezzo 2: Hers and His; His and Hers.
Disclaimer/Author's Notes: Kim Possible and all the characters of the show are owned by the Disney Company. The original lyrics to the song referenced in this chapter and the music are the property of the respective author, artists and labels. All other characters can be blamed on the author (he, however, is not responsible for all of their actions at all times, being barely responsible for himself most of the time). This is a strictly not-for-profit, just-for-fun work.
Please refer to chapter 1 of Blue Eyes, Shining: Intermezzi if you have questions regarding this concept.
Enjoy! Please read and review.
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Intermezzo 2: Hers and His; His and Hers.
Story: between Blue Eyes, Shining and Blue Eyes, Shining: Training Table Blues
Time stamp: this series of events occurred after the end of chapter 9.
When: we begin in the rain, as Wade and Joss are about to be separated for the first time...
- - - - - - -
"Do me a favor, Wade," and she got 'the look.'
"Anything, Sweet Tea."
"Make a battlesuit for me, Wade: I know you've got the measurements," and she looked up at Wade and grinned thru her tears as he tried to dig himself a foxhole in the mud. "Betty told me, and she told Kim, and Kim's not mad at you: she's actually flattered, and she's also just a bit embarrassed."
Betty and Wade would have an interesting talk on the way home; likewise, Kim and Wade would have a similar talk when he got home.
"And, I'm not mad, either, Wade," she kept grinning. "I was, at first, when Betty told me what you did, but I realized when you collected the measurements when Betty told me how you'd done it, and I thought I would be in unique company. And, the fact that you did it showed me and them both how much you loved all of us: to risk your friendship to help keep us safe. It's that hero thing, again, Wade.
"Besides," and she got 'the look' again, "just think of what you have to look forward to as I get older since you've got those measurements, now," and she reached up and kissed me quickly. "Oh, strawberry-addicted boy," and she grinned even bigger.
"Well, now," Wade was finally to breath, "that was a surprise parting gift."
"Well, here's another," and she kissed him again, moved Wade's hand down to her rear, and squeezed his hand. Her other hand was doing the same thing to Wade.
"Oooo, and I see that someone else liked it," she said when they separated, and she giggled; Wade was glad that she couldn't see him blush.
"Thank you, Wade. For everything," and she brushed his lips a final time, and ran back under the covered walkway into the arms of her dad. Betty came walking out from under the walkway, helmet already on and her visor up.
"Ready, Wade?"
"I'm ready, Betty," and he tossed his bags into the plane, scrambled into the rear seat, strapped himself in, and picked up his helmet.
Before he put it on, he looked out to Joss and waved.
She waved back, and she and her dad turned and walked back into the house.
Wade put his helmet on, and keyed the microphone.
"Let's go home, Dr. Director," and she jumped into the cockpit, slammed the cover down, and fired up the engines.
- - - - - - -
As Joss walked back into the house, Slim felt her begin to shake, and before he could ask her is she was all right, she broke away and ran into the house, crying.
Slim found her standing in the hall, sobbing uncontrollably and kicking anything and everything close to her: walls, furniture, and air….He decided that it would be in his best interest to stand back for a few moments.
He heard her mumble something about "old enough to react batter than this" and "stop acting childish" and "yes, you idiot, he does love you," and she finally stopped crying and calmed herself. She looked up and saw Slim, and blushed.
"Sorry, Daddy, but I jus' had to git that outa my system before I flat exploded," she grinned, and let one more tear fall across her cheek.
"So," she said calmly, "this is what love does to someone. God, it stinks, doesn't it, Daddy?" and she laughed and cried and hugged him while he did the same.
- - - - - - -
They flew for miles, neither saying a word, until Wade broke the silence.
"Betty, would you patch me through to Dr. Donna Jackson at Middleton General?"
"The phyciatrist?"
"Please and thank you," and Wade chuckled.
"Here's your line, Wade," Betty told him after a minute.
"Dr? Wade Load. Do you have an appointment open this afternoon?"
Silence.
"4:30 PM?"
Silence.
"That'll be fine."
Silence.
"No, not a problem; in fact, I expect that you'll be quite pleased with what I tell you."
Silence.
"Thank you, Doctor. Goodbye." and Wade toggled the microphone off, then back on.
"Thank you, Betty."
"Are you all right, Wade?"
"I'm better than I've been since I was nine years old, Betty."
"A whole four years, Wade?" and Betty smiled.
"Yeah…that long, huh?
"Jocelyn Possible loves me, Slim approves, and Joss broke through my demon," Wade said, matter-of-factly.
"Did she know?"
"No, she just asked me the right questions, and then she had faith enough to tell me that I saved her, and that she would never leave me like Stephanie did," Wade replied, a single tear fell onto his lap.
"And then," Wade sat up, "she asked me to MAKE HER A BETTLESUIT, BETTY!" and Wade's voice got louder.
"oops." Wade couldn't see Betty's grin under her visor; it was a good thing, since he was a bit miffed at the time.
"Betty, YOU TOLD JOSS WHAT I DID?"
"sorry."
"and, you TOLD KIM?"
"well, technically I didn't exactly tell Kim because she had already figured it out, but…yeah, I guess I kinda did…"
"What am I supposed to do with you?" Wade sighed, looked up, and then grinned with thoughts of Betty in his dreams…
"Wade, I can't see you, but I know what you're thinking whenever you got that quiet, and, I quote, 'not even in your dreams, big boy.'" Betty grinned from her seat as she flew. "That's why I had them install the jamming system. Besides, even if I considered it, Joss would kill me first, then you."
"Hey,
"1: you can't control my dreams; and
"2: you're right, but that still doesn't get you off the hook.
"But, it gets me off the hook with you, right, Betty?" and Wade smirked as he thought of the ramifications.
'yeah, I guess it does."
"We're cool?"
"As the bottom-"
"Can I finish that sentence, Betty?" and Wade smirked even more.
"NO!"
Silence for awhile, then…
"I suppose I should be the one thanking you, after all, Wade," Betty continued.
"Why?"
"You broke through Joss' walls and got her to realize why she was upset and having problems: we've tried to do this for the last 3 years, ever since she began to remember her dreams. Besides," Betty chuckled, "you were a lot cheaper than her doctors.
"Well, Slim may not think so when he gets the bill for the wedding."
"Hey, that won't be for another 8 years, 6 months, and 5 days, give or take a day," Wade replied.
"Someone's a wee bit serious and anal about this, aren't they?"
"D'OI, Betty! And, by the way, so is Joss.
"I never felt like this before, Betty: not even about Stephanie, not even about Kim, not even about Monique, not even…oops, did I say that last name out loud?"
"Yes, you did, and this one I won't tell Monique."
"It's ok, Betty. Monique has known for a long time that I had a crush on her. She's going to get a chuckle out of me telling her about Joss, but then I'm going to get a chuckle about telling her that I have a fiancée before she does."
"Yeah, she'll probably get a chuckle out of…YOU HAVE A WHAT?"
"Surprise, Betty. I already proposed, she already accepted. I guess I didn't tell you that part, but I already told Slim, and I told him I'd be back later to ask for his permission to marry his daughter."
"Wade, you've surprised me once again." And they flew some more in silence, Wade smiling and Betty thinking about Slim.
- - - - - - -
Slim looked down at his daughter and wanted to magically take her hurts away.
He wanted to wave a magic wand and make it all better.
He wanted to snap his fingers and bring Sheri Nicole back.
He wanted someone to share all of this with.
None of his wants were possible, so he cried along with her and hugged her while she did the same.
- - - - - - -
As Betty flew, she wished that she could magically make Wade's dreams come true; about Joss, not what he was thinking about Betty.
She wished that she could wave a magic wand and find Sheri Nicole's killers.
She wished to snap her fingers and bring her and Sheldon back together.
She wished that she had had the guts to follow her heart and tell Slim how she felt: that she wanted to spend her life with him, that she wanted to help him, not replace Sheri Nicole but become a new part of Slim's heart, and that she'd give everything up, even Global Justice, if he'd have her; she knew him well enough to know that he'd never demand that of her, but that was how serious she felt about him.
She knew that none of her wishes would come true, so she shed tears under her visor as she flew Wade back to Middleton and she returned to her life of Kim Possible and Drew Lipsky, Sheldon and Will Du and Ron, and Global Justice.
- - - - - - -
"Daddy, when are you gonna tell Betty that you love her?"
Slim, stepping into the hot tub, slipped and fell forward face-first into the churning water and finally came up, sputtering for two reasons.
"SWEET TEA! Don't do sumpin' like that whil' I'm steppin' in; I coulda' drowned!"
"Sorry, Daddy, but it's true, an' you know it. You love her, don't you?" and she splashed some water on him.
Slim slipped into his seat gingerly, then looked at his daughter and sighed.
'Is it that obvious?' he thought to himself.
"I've known you all my life," she added and splashed more water on him.
'I couldn't' hurt you, Joss, so I've had to hide it even from myself. Her last trip up here pushed me over the edge, though; I finally was able to admit it to myself for the first time.' Slim admitted his feelings to himself, but he couldn't tell Joss.
'It doesn't matter, though,' and Slim thought and looked upwards into the falling rain to hide his tears.
"Why won't you answer, Daddy?"
"She can't love me, Josh, that's why. I was married to her best friend, and she could never think of me as someone other than that way," 'like someone who feels the way I do about her,' and the rain, mixing with his tears, felt somehow comforting as the mixture joined the water in the hot tub.
"And don't tell me, Joss, about what's 'Possible:' it won't happen," as he continued to stare upward, washing his face in Sheri Nicole's tears from heaven.
"I'm sorry, Daddy, I was so sure," and Josh waded over to her dad and hugged him. "I jus' wanted you to be as happy as I am," she added. "Wade proposed, and I accepted. Of course, it'll be a long engagement," she chuckled: "eight years and six months, but he's worth the wait."
"I know, Sweet Tea: Wade told me before he left, and I told him what I told you." And Slim was assaulted by a Possible child-woman.
"Daddy! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" and Joss hugged her dad even tighter.
"Daddy?" Slim looked down finally to see his daughter beaming up at him, her own tears flowing, and she spoke in an almost-whisper.
"Yes, Sweet Tea?"
"Daddy, I won't let you down," Joss whispered into the rain. "I won't let you or Momma down," she added, as the two soaking Possibles stood in the hot tub in the rain, their tears mixing with the water and the tears of joy falling from Heaven.
- - - - - - -
"So, Betty, when are you going to tell him?"
"Tell who? And, tell what?" Betty continued to fly; they were about 20 minutes from landing.
"Tell Slim that you're in love with him, Betty: 'and, you know I'm right,'" Wade channeled his mother's favorite phrase.
"I can't, Wade," and Wade could hear the sob that Betty tried to choke back.
"Why not, Betty? Besides, you'd make a great mother-in-law, and we'd have that Oedipal thing going on," and Wade chuckled as Betty laughed at Wade's last comment.
"Can't, Wade," Betty finally said. "I can't hurt Slim by telling him how I feel; he doesn't feel the same way about me, anyway. After all, she was my best friend," Betty added.
"…who would want you and Slim to be happy," Wade logically concluded.
"Can't, Wade; I wish it could; not to give you a chance to re-enact a Greek play," she smiled and Wade laughed, "but because it would make me happy beyond words. That's not reason enough to hurt either Slim or Joss, so I guess we'll stay friends.
"Trust me, Wade: being a friend with Slim is a whole lot more than I deserve," she added sadly, and Wade responded quickly and decisively...
"WRONG, OH ALL-KNOWING DIRECTOR-BREATH!" Wade yelled, and then he calmed a bit. "He's already forgiven you, and you know that Sheri Nicole forgave you years ago; so, now, you need to forgive yourself, Betty," and Betty was surprised at the strength of Wade's convictions.
'He's never yelled at me before,' she thought.
Wade added in a much softer voice, "If it'll help any, Betty, I forgave you. You did everything that you could, and you've done so much since then, and you've backed me in my quixotic quest, so I had to forgive you."
Betty was silent for a few more miles.
"Thank you, Wade," Betty finally got the words out over her still-captured sobs. "Coming into the hospital landing pad in 2 minutes; they're already waiting for you, Wade, and I'll send a car for you after you're finished."
Silence for a few moments, then…
"And, Wade?"
"Yes, Betty?"
"Thank you."
"Betty, it has truly been my pleasure," Wade said as they landed.
- - - - - - -
"Dr. Wade Load to see Dr. Donna Jackson," Wade said to the nurse at the desk.
"Hello, Dr. Load," and she tittered. "I'll tell Dr. Jackson you're here."
"No need, Shelly," and Dr. Jackson came out of her office.
"Dr. Jackson!"
Wade had not seen her in several months, so he was surprised to see her in a wheelchair and with a tube in her throat.
"Come on in, Dr.," and Dr. Jackson held the door open, and she and Wade went back into her office. Dr. Jackson closed the door, and turned and looked at Wade.
Then, a big grin crossed her face.
"You've had a major break-through, haven't you, Wade?
"So," and Dr. Jackson crossed her arms, "what's her name, and when are you two getting married?"
"Donna!" Wade grinned, and he hugged his doctor.
"You know me too well; that's not fair," Wade pouted.
"Well?"
"Jocelyn's her name, and the wedding is tentatively set for after she gets out of college in 8-and-a-half years," Wade admitted as he sat in the all-too-familiar chair.
"Well, I guess I won't make the wedding," Donna mused.
"The cancer?"
"Yes; it's n-stage now," Donna said matter-of-factly, and Wade ran over to her and grabbed her.
"Why didn't you call me?" he sobbed.
"I did, but you were with Jocelyn, and I figured that only a Possible woman could break you down if I couldn't," and Donna laughed as she pulled Wade up to look her in the eye.
"You've known this was coming, Wade. Why the long face, now?"
"I want you to meet Jocelyn, Donna. I want her to meet you. I wanted you to be at my wedding, sitting on my side of the church." Wade paused. "I'll have to get here real soon, then."
"I wouldn't wait several months, Wade," she added.
"Besides," she continued, "I got my gift. I got to see you get past Stephanie, Wade. I'm so happy for you. Redhead, right?" Donna quizzed with a smirk on her face.
"Of course: she's a Possible woman, Donna, and, on top of all the baggage that brings to the table, her IQ is about 50 points higher than Jim or Tim," Wade added proudly.
"Oh, my, Wade: you've got it bad, don't you?"
"I proposed; she accepted; I've already talked to her dad, and he's given me his tentative blessing. I told him I'd be back when it was time."
"Slim Possible?"
"Yes, why?"
"I should'a known," Donna thought out loud. "When your mom told me you went to see Kim's cousin Jocelyn, I suspected it was Slim. I knew Sheri Nicole in undergraduate school; she was two years ahead of me, but we were in the same sorority, so we knew each other. She was a doll, Wade; I was deeply saddened when I heard that she had died," Donna added.
"You're good, Wade?" Donna asked about his emotional health, now.
"I am, Donna. I was having lunch with Joss, and-" Donna interrupted him.
"Your dream lunch, Wade?"
"Down to the flan, Donna, and she loved every bit of it," Wade added with a dream look on his face, and Donna laughed.
"Anyway," he continued, "she asked me some questions, and I gave her some answers, and Stephanie's death came out, and she hugged me the way that Stephanie did, and I lost it."
"Wade, you're calm. I'm so happy for you: you have gotten past all of it," Donna said with honest joy.
"It didn't happen until she told me that I needed to tell the story, but not then, and she told me that she wouldn't leave me the way Stephanie did," Wade teared up for a moment, then it passed.
"She certainly sounds like quite the young woman," Donna said after their joint silence.
"You need to talk to Betty, and she'll tell you what I can't tell you about Joss," Wade added.
"That's why I have the clearances, Wade: working with so many agents, I have to have them. Besides," and she pointed at her throat, "with the time I have left, what is someone going to do: threaten to kill me if I divulge secrets?" and Donna laughed.
"How can you laugh about this, Donna?" Wade asked, honestly confused for the first time in a long time.
"What else am I going to do, Wade: cry for the rest of my life? That would be a short cry, anyway, so what a waste that would be," she calmly stated. "I know it's my time, and I've made my piece. I so wanted to see you better before I left, and I can now go happy," she smiled, and Wade knew that she was truly at peace.
"Besides, you know I have the most wonderful husband, Wade, and he's taken all of this so well. He's helped me help our kids get past it, too; I've been making recording for my daughters and son for different birthdays, so I'll still be with them," she added.
"You're quite a woman yourself, Donna," Wade said after some thought and conclusion.
"And, Jocelyn is a very lucky young woman, Wade," Donna replied.
"No, Donna: I'm the lucky one," he responded with total honesty.
"You'd better get home, Wade: you've been here almost 2 hours," Donna said, looking up at the clock.
"Where's your stuff?"
"Betty's sending a car for me; they have it."
"Betty?"
"Betty Director," Wade replied.
"So, now you're on a first-name basis with the head of Global Justice, Wade? You've got to come back, or we've got to have a long dinner sometime so I can hear this story," Donna stated.
"Seriously," she added, and both of them laughed.
"Take care, Wade, and say hello to your father and mother for me," Donna said as she opened to door for Wade.
Wade hugged her one more time.
"Donna, I wish I could do something for you," Wade said into her neck.
"You already have, Wade: you've gotten better," Donna replied. "Now, get home! Call me when you're bringing Jocelyn into town, and I'll cook for the both of you."
"Make dessert: she likes chocolate," Wade grinned at the double entendre, and Donna caught it as Wade walked out the door.
"I'll just bet she does, Wade," Donna whispered with a smile on her face as she closed the door to her office.
- - - - - - -
"Dad!" Wade shouted as his dad came out of the door to greet him as the Global Justice car pulled up, and Rebecca Jane and Arnold stepped out to open the door for Wade and get his things out of the trunk.
"Wade!" Ryan Load looked over his son who had run to him and hugged him in public for the first time since he was three years old. "Wade?" His dad looked at the two agents carrying his son's backpack and suitcase: both were grinning, but were looking at his son with almost a sense of awe and with a great deal of respect. He looked down at his son, lokked him over for a few moments, and then smiled.
"So, what's her name?" And the agents burst into laughter, and Wade looked up at his dad.
"How did you know?"
"Son, only two things will make a man change as much as you have in a few months: either a woman or a life-threatening event. Since you look healthy and nothing appears to be broken, it must be the former."
"Now we know where Wade gets it from," Rebecca Jane said sotto-voce to Arnold, and they both smiled.
"You're right, of course, Dad. This is gonna take a long time to explain," Wade replied, and his dad looked at him and grinned.
"Jocelyn Possible, right? What did you do, Wade: propose? And, what'd she do: rock your world and accept, right?" And Wade's silence convicted him, and both Arnold and Rebecca Jane laughed with and at Wade, both with joy.
"How did you know?" Wade asked, perplexed for another time today.
"I didn't; until now. Son: you knew you weren't ever going to get Kim; I saw how you looked at Jocelyn's pictures, and I saw the look on your face the days before you left. Son, before you left, you had it bad," and he laughed along with the GJ agents.
"Please forgive my son's manners; obviously, he has something or someone else on his mind," and he walked over to the laughing agents. "I'm Ryan Load, Wade's dad," and he stuck out his hand to Arnold.
"Arnold Carlos. Nice to meet you, sir," and Arnold shook his hand.
"I'm Rebecca Jane Casey, Mr. Load. It's good to finally meet you," and she put out her hand and was surprised when Ryan took it.
"Such a beautiful name for such a lovely lady," and he kissed her hand. "The pleasure's all mine," he added as Rebecca Jane blushed.
"Well, now you really know where Wade gets it from, Rebecca Jane," and Arnold grinned as Rebecca Jane blushed even more, and Ryan and Wade both chuckled.
"Let's get inside, Wade. Your mother's cleaned your room, and you've got to get mentally and physically prepared for what you're about to see," and Wade waved goodbye to the agents as they went back to the car, and Wade said the only thing that he could think of about his room:
"Oh, man…."
- - - - - - -
Betty walked into her home and set the jamming frequencies to the random system pattern best designed to prevent unexpected viewing.
"Sorry, Wade, 'no free lookie'" she grinned, as she strode into her bathroom to prepare for her shower.
She peeled off her grimy jumpsuit, reached into the shower and turned it on, letting it run until the temperature was right. She went to her CD player and pulled out her favorite CD: she was glad that Wade hadn't found this or heard her singing, or she'd be the laughingstock of Global Justice.
That didn't matter to her, though: Sheri Nicole had gotten her hooked on Broadway show tunes years ago, and she had fallen especially hard for several from the past mid-century, especially on, of all things, 'The Music Man:' Betty had a feeling that she must have been Marion in a past life.
She slipped the CD into her player and set the track one behind the song that she wanted to enjoy and then finished undressing, stepping into the shower and closing the shower door behind her. The amazingly strong and beautiful soprano voice belted out the tune of her rewritten lyrics over the sounds of the running shower:
Dream of now; dream of then;
I'll dream of my love song that might have been.
Do I love you?
Oh, Slim, I love you.
And I will bravely tell you but only when I dream again.
I'm not sad;
It's not so bad; not having you near:
Not true!
How long will I love you?
Only, forever;
But, can I ever, ever, tell you?
Oh, no….
And Betty went on with her shower concert for a time as she washed the weeks of hard work, strain, stress, found but untouchable love, and her personal heartaches down the drain.
'If only it was that easy,' she thought, 'just to change my dream into reality,' and she hugged her Slim, even though he wasn't with her and never would be….
Her tears fell from her face and joined the shower water rinsing her body as they flowed into the drain, searching for her dream lover.
- - - - - - -
Betty sat in her blue negligee, propped up in bed with her laptop, working thru the results of the training sessions and looking at the status of her trainees and sipping a glass of white wine.
"Rebecca Jane's done quite well," she said to herself. "That time at the 'Lazy C' hase done her a great deal of good. When she finishes her master's program, she'll be ready to go full time on the new assignment."
She went thru the rest of the trainees, flagging only three for some additional time with the martial-arts trainers and only one for additional diving sessions. She tagged five for advanced weapons training, and then shut down her laptop, placed it on the night table, turned off the lights and tried to sleep, but all she could do was think…
'Sheri Nicole, where are you when I need you, girlfriend?'
'I'm in love with your husband, and I absolutely adore your daughter.'
'Jocelyn is so much better, now; it seems that she's found herself her 'Slim Possible,' only with a much better tan. He's a good man already, Sheri, and he's only going to get better with age. That is, if I can keep him from trying to get any additional free looks at my body,' she chuckled.
'How would you feel if I married Slim, Sheri? Would you hate me forever, or would you kick me in the butt and ask me what took me so long?'
'I wish I knew the answer, Sheri, I wish I knew…' and Betty finally achieved a fitful sleep. Betty was asleep and didn't see the bright, unexpected shooting star cross the night sky, disappearing into its own fireworks show.
- - - - - - -
Intermezzo 2 fin.
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