There's Still Fireworks: Part VII

Goodnight, Baby

Ron Stoppable was discovering he enjoyed something. He actually enjoyed it quite a bit, though it was pretty obvious he knew he would, even before he got started doing it. Only, until just a few short days earlier, he had never put that notion to practice.

Kim had been understandably upset with him as they left the top-secret lab behind. Dementor had not only escaped, but he had done doing exactly what they had made the trip to prevent. The security forces of the lab had been understanding, to a point. After all, who was going to believe that the famous Kim Possible was there to steal it herself?

Once everything was sorted out, they offered to send the teens home in a remotely piloted helicopter, meaning they would be home in very short order. What had taken over five hours on an old, slow train would only take just over an hour on the return trip.

Ron settled into his seat, wondering what that ride would hold for him. It wasn't a question of whether Kim would forgive him or not. They had failed in the past, and many times it had been his fault, and she had never truly held that against him. Still, that didn't mean she didn't get upset and angry at him over the short haul. Somehow he was expecting at least a lecture.

Instead, the moment they were clear of the lights of the complex, he felt her auburn maned head resting against his shoulder. She stripped off her leather gloves and stuck them in her belt, almost as if that was an actual signal that she was no longer in 'mission mode.' One hand came to rest on his thigh, just above his knee and gave him a soft squeeze.

He started to speak, to apologize profusely for causing their loss, but before he could form the words, she caught his lips in hers in a light, brief kiss. Even beyond feeling guilty about their sitch, he was surprised she did that. So far, all of their kissing had been in private, and under the auspices of a 'date', or at least some private making out time. Even that hadn't had the chance to go beyond just some light kissing, since they spent most of it talking.

Then it occurred to him. They were alone on the aircraft, and save for the dim lights coming from the instrument panel, it was quite dark. There were small lights above their seats, but neither of them had seen fit to turn them on. He even considered that, given the late hour, Kim might want to get a little nap in before they got home.

As her lips brushed his a second time, he realized she might want to spend the flight otherwise engaged.

The second kiss started out much like the first, but went on far longer. Tentatively, he leaned into it, moving his lips against hers, following her lead, wondering exactly how far she intended to go, at least for half a moment. The second half of that moment he tried banishing that thought from his head. They were both sixteen and had been dating for just a few days, and obviously neither were experienced beyond kissing. Still, his male hormones were stirring, telling him otherwise, making it that much harder to dispel the notion that he might experience something new in the dark cabin of the helicopter.

He still didn't know what she had in mind as the kiss lingered for some time. Slowly, she increased the pressure of her mouth against his. It seemed she was as loath as he was to let it end, but he forced himself to let her be in control of things. It seemed only right, especially since he feared that any over-step of the bounds they had not yet discussed would only lead to hurt feelings and perhaps a fight they weren't ready to have. Math might not have been his strong suit, but this particular equation was simple. Screw up, and the kissing stops.

They spent almost the entire ride like that. Gaining some measure of confidence, he put an arm around her back, which seemed to please her as she shifted her weight against his side and put a hand on the back of his head, running her fingers through his short hair as the very tips of their tongues danced against each other.

She didn't seem to notice as his eyebrows went up slightly as his hands explored her upper back. He didn't yet have the confidence to let them wander any lower than the bottom of her crop-top, let alone drift to the loose opening of her olive cargo pants, but his fingers discovered something, or more precisely, the lack of something he had somewhat suspected, but had never really considered all that much.

It was obvious all she was wearing on top was her midriff-baring mock turtleneck.

For a good ten or fifteen minutes that was all he could think about, to the point he actually lost track of the kissing itself. Earlier, when his hands had landed where they weren't supposed to, he had been too embarrassed to actually notice. Again, he found himself fighting the notion that his hands should explore further, but he wasn't about to do that. There was indeed a great difference between accidentally grabbing a hold of her, and…well…groping.

Even so, just touching her back through the fabric of her top, knowing for certain what he had previously only thought, was very, very pleasant for him, and the perfect counterpart for the primary activity they were engaged in.

He was still lost in thought, picturing that part of her back without the top or her hair in the way, when his stomach lurched slightly. Kim broke away and peered out the window. It was much lighter in the helicopter by that point, though it was still the middle of the night. Far below, the lights of Middleton beckoned as they descended from the clouds.

"Home again, huh, KP?"

"Yeah. I thought they said it would take an hour to get home."

Ron pulled the edge of his glove back so he could see his battered old digital watch. "Huh. It actually has been about an hour."

Kim played with his bangs, very lightly touching his skin with her fingertips. "Yeah, time sure flies when you're having fun."

Taking a slight chance, Ron kissed her forehead. In the growing light, he could tell it was the right move, because she smiled softly at him, lovingly. That made him a little more daring.

"You know, Kim, since everyone know we're on a mission, maybe we don't have to go home right away." He added a little wag of his eyebrows.

Kim looked at him for a moment, her face unreadable, as if she were considering just that. Finally, she shook her head slowly, causing her hair to bob from one side to the other. "No, Ron. For starters, Mission Time is a sacred trust. If we abuse that for our own personal reasons…no matter how tempting," She gave him a light kiss on the tip of his nose, "we run the risk of damaging the very credibility we need, the trust our parents and others have in us that we're doing what we're supposed to be doing. That's how we can be out at three in the morning, flying around in a helicopter instead of tucked into our beds after curfew."

"Oh." He said, a little ashamed for broaching the subject.

"Hey." She gave him a short, but more intense kiss on the lips as their neighborhood came into view. "This is why we talk. Like I said, it's very tempting, especially as good a kisser as you're turning out to be. Plus, there's another reason."

"Oh? Think we might get a little too…you know?"

Kim made a funny noise in the back of her throat. "So not! No, Ronnie, it's three in the morning, I'm dead tired, we've got to be in school in a few hours, I've still got what Bonnie calls a 'fussy routine' to work out with the squad, and you have a math test…a test I don't recall you studying for. Much as I would have liked this flight to go on longer," She gave him another little peck, "we both need the rest. As it is, I'm probably going to go home and collapse right on my bed, and worry about changing in the morning." She gripped his hand, giving it a firm squeeze.

Rufus chose that moment to rise from his place in Ron's pocket, stretching mightily and letting out a yawn neither teen would have thought possible from such a small creature.

"Besides, Ron, looks like you need to spend some quality time with Rufus instead of just me. He disappeared the moment we started kissing. Good little naked mole rat!"

"Hey." He squeaked, wondering exactly what he had done that was so good. The concept of his human and his "mate" needing privacy to mash their faces together for the better part of an hour was slightly beyond him, though, admittedly, the extra warmth Ron had been generating during the course of their flight was quite soothing.

The chopper set down in the wide lane in front of Kim's house. Ron looked at the darkened home almost sadly. "You know, KP, if we'd stopped by my house, I could have walked you home. We could have held hands."

She leaned against him as they disembarked, not so much because she needed his support physically, but that it gave her a good excuse to remain in contact with him. "I never thought about that. I guess everyone seems to know where I live, so they just assumed I'd want to come back here. Tell you what, I'll walk you home and we can hold hands and I can kiss you goodnight."

"Uh-uh, no way, KP. Sixteen kinds of kung fu or not, there's no way I'm letting you walk home alone this time of night."

"Um, Ron, that's sweet and all, but we both walk between our homes at all hours just fine, and, no offense, but I think I'm a lot safer walking home alone than you are."

He shot her a slight look. "It just doesn't seem right, you know, gentlemanly or something. If something happened to you…"

"Ron, if something happened to you I'd feel the same way, and that goes beyond the fact we're dating." She put an arm around his waist and pulled him close for a moment. "Baby…"

"Baby? I'm a baby now?"

"Ron, I don't know, it just seems natural calling you that, like I did when I came out wearing that dress." She stopped for a moment at he got a wistful expression, recalling the short, tight little black number. "Look, you're still Ron and I'm still Kim. If you really boil it down, the only dif now is that we do this." She gave him a long, slow kiss, holding him tightly against her. "I'm still Kim Possible, and I can do anything, and that includes walking my boyfriend home."

Taking a chance, Ron literally put his foot down. "No, KP. A gentleman walks his lady to his door, not the other way around." He took her shoulder and turned her toward the red door. "Besides, we're already here, and you said you were tired. No use you walking half a mile each way, alone."

Kim held up her hands. "Okay, you win, my gentleman. Walk me to my door?"

"It'll be my pleasure." He grinned at her, his arm never leaving her shoulder until they were in the little darkened alcove. As usual, the trust her family had in her was such that nobody had stayed up waiting for them to come home, at least from a mission. If they had been on an actual date, though, she was sure at least her father would be there, constantly looking at his watch, probably from at least a half hour before her curfew.

As it was, they probably spent the next ten minutes on the goodnight kiss alone, though if asked, they would think it only lasted about a minute.

"Walk you to school tomorrow?" He asked, touching his forehead to hers.

"If you don't, it'll be so the drama. Goodnight, Ron. Be careful."

Kim leaned against the door jam, watching him walk away until he turned the corner, out of sight. Fortunately, Middleton was still a fairly safe place for a teen to be out at night. Not to mention, it really did seem like nobody knew or cared where he lived. Part of that bothered her, and she was going to do something about that.

Ron had been right about one thing, though. She was practically dead on her feet. Even mounting the stairs to her loft was a chore, something she hadn't noticed while she was with him. All the fatigue from riding back and forth on the mission, the brief battle, and even the bruise she still carried from her fall the afternoon before at cheer practice all seemed to gang up on her at once.

Just as she predicted, she plopped directly onto her bed, not even bothering to undress or even pull back the comforter. Kim knew she would rest better with a proper shower, but she just couldn't bring herself to get back up to take one. That meant a whole other trip down the stairs, then back up again, not to mention probably waking her parents and her brothers. It was just better to lay there, on top of the covers and get forty winks before her alarm went off in just under three hours.

Unbuckling her equipment belt, she threw it on the floor and rolled onto her side to get more comfortable. That's when she realized there was something in the pocket opposite the one she kept the Kimmunicator in. She didn't remember putting anything there, and it made an uncomfortable lump on the side of her leg.

Sitting up, she switched on her nightstand light and cleaned out her pockets, putting her house keys and the Kimmunicator on the small, round table. Finally, she pulled what looked like a shiny metal ball out of the other side.

For a moment she thought about calling Wade. He had been known to slip various tools into their backpacks, and had a notoriously bad habit of not walking them through them until they were actually needed. That was something she wanted to discuss with him, but not to the point of waking him up at half past three. He was, after all, just an eleven year-old boy.

Yawning, she took the orb-thingy and put it in her backpack. Unless a mission came up, she did have a lot to do the next day, to the point she would have to wear her junior varsity cheer uniform to school the next day. Fortunately, it was already turning nicely warm for early spring, so she wouldn't have to wear a jacket over it.

Kim wasn't quite sure when she fell asleep, or even if she was gone before she could settle back down in her dark pink pillows. All she knew was that, in that dream, she was with Ron, their arms wrapped around each other, their faces joined seemingly forever. She also knew that she wished that could go on forever.

She was so caught up in her subconscious make-out session she didn't even pay the least bit of attention to the herd of Pandaroos milling about them, saying "Be careful what you wish for!"

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