Disclaimer: Disney owns all that is Kim Possible. I receive nothing for these stories I write except your reviews, and that's the name of that tune. (Robert Blake from the TV show Beretta and Bonnie Rockwaller from chapter 9.)

Xxxxxx

Goth

Chapter 16

Merchandising

Xxxxxx

The cheer squad was a little disappointed when Kim told them that her mother had put the kibosh on their sexual dalliances with Ron but, all-in-all, they realized it was for the best. The girls really needed to get back to their own boyfriends who were getting suspicious of the squad's time spent at the apartment. Bonnie, her hair halfway back to its lustrous brown hue with the ends still retaining the black dye, just smiled. That meant there was less competition for the blond boy and more chances for her to steal Ron away from Kim.

But did Bonnie really want to have Ron all to herself as her boyfriend and future husband? I mean sure he was rich and unstoppable in the bedroom, but was that all she wanted out of life?

Bonnie was a planner but she had yet to decide what job she desired after high school and college. She liked to be active and involved so sitting around the house, living off the interest of Ron's Naco royalties, didn't seem like something she would settle for... even with the bonus of the wonderfully blissful sensations he gave her in the bedroom.

No, Bonnie didn't want to become a domestic engineer raising little Ronnies and Bonnies. She wanted... she needed a real career.

"Ron Ron," the brunette called out, but didn't get his attention. He was sitting at the kitchen table of the apartment, diligently doing his homework while Kim was pulling her usual evening shift at Club Banana so the two of them were alone right now. "Ron Ron," Bonnie called out a little louder, still not rousing him from his studies. She got up off the living room couch, tied her lavender robed closed and walked over to the kitchen.

Bonnie could see that Ron was working on his Social Studies project that wasn't due until sometime next week so she wouldn't be disturbing him too much if she talk to him now. That's if she could get his attention. Ron was so focused on his homework nowadays, so that he could accompany Kim to the college of her choosing, that he didn't even flinch when Bonnie laid her hand on his shoulder.

"Ron Ron, can we talk?" Bonnie almost yelled. That finally shook him out of his intense concentration.

"Wha, Bon Bon!" Ron yelped and startled in his seat. His hand went to his heaving chest as he stared, wide-eyed at her.

"Was that one of your screams of courage that I've heard so much about?" Bonnie giggled at his antics as she sat down next to him.

"No," Ron defensively denied with a frown. "That was one of my screams of... of... I got nothin. You scared the be-jabbers outta me, Bon Bon."

"I'm sorry Ron Ron," Bonnie honestly cooed to the blond boy and gently patted his arm resting on the table. "I just wanted to have a serious talk with you."

"A serious talk, is that all," Ron jovially pshaw'ed with a flippant wave of the hand as he stood up and went to the refrigerator to start rooting around for something to eat. "Well that calls for my special Mad Dog Baked Chicken for Serious Talks."

"Ron Ron," Bonnie chided with a laugh, "you equate everything with food." She knew the culinary genius had a dish picked out for any type of situation so she wasn't surprised he had one for serious talks.

Ron stood from his crouch at the fridge, his hands loaded with a whole chicken among other things, and begged, "And your point is?" At Bonnie's laugh he turned serious, placed the ingredients on the counter and sat back down. "Okay. What do you seriously want to talk about?"

"I've been thinking about my future," the brunette whined, placing her chin in her hands and crooked elbows on the table. "Here we are, more than half way through our Junior year of high school and I still don't know what I want to major in in collage. Have you and K talked about it?"

"Not really," Ron sighed, his hand folded in his lap as he leaned back in the chair. "Though I did start thinking about it back before the school year began. That's why I've been working so hard on bringing up my grades. I want to go to Middleton University with KP after we graduate. I think Kim wants to study Crime-ology and Psycho-ology there."

"So Kim want to continue saving the world after college?" Bonnie begged, ignoring the blond boys blatant mispronunciation of the two majors.

"Yeah, I guess," Ron shrugged. "And if KP wants to continue saving the world then so do I."

"Does that mean you'll be majoring in Criminology too?"

"I'm not really sure," Ron said scratching his head. "I don't think I'll major in the same thing as KP but I'll probably take a few of the same classes as she does. M.U. (he pronounced it 'moo') also has a badical culinary course that I'm looking into just to see if I can improve my badical cooking abilities."

"I highly doubt they can improve your cooking skills," Bonnie laughed, thinking about all of the simple but wonderful meals Ron had created in that very kitchen. "I think they'd more than likely mess up your creativity with their by-the-cookbook teaching methods."

"I never thought of that," Ron softly pondered before regaining his normal goofy grin. "Anyway, I got a year to think about what I'll be studying in college. Why are you bringing it up now?"

"I always like to plan a few moves ahead in whatever I do," Bonnie said as she leaned back in her chair and idly doodled a finger on the tabletop, "but right now I don't know what to do with my life. Before I changed, I had planned on owning a fashion boutique so I'd always be up on all the latest clothes. But now..."

"Now you're not interested in the latest pink poof," Ron surmised, remembering how Bonnie had always been dressed in the most up-to-date fashions before the Christmas holiday break. After the holidays, fashion wasn't an issue and she had almost gone in the opposite direction, dressing all in black generic label clothes. The heavy Goth makeup had disappeared but she still dressed in black hued clothing during school hours.

"Nope," Bonnie heavily sighed. "I wish I could just continue to help you and K on your missions for the rest of my life."

"Well, why can't you?" Ron questioned. "You could live with me and KP."

"Because I'd like to earn a living for myself, not live off of you and your Naco money," Bonnie glumly answered. "And besides, you only go out on your missions once or twice a week. I like to keep active. I wouldn't know what to do with myself when I wasn't on a mission. "

"Then I guess you'd have to get a job after college," Ron ceded. "But it'd have to be one where you could leave at the drop of a canary if you wanted to go on the missions with KP and me."

"That's the sticking point Ron Ron," Bonnie growled in frustration, ignoring his mixed metaphor.

They sat in silence at the apartment kitchen table for a minute before Ron began to smile. "What if..." Ron started as his smile grew into a full-out goofy grin. "What if you opened that dress shop you were thinking about and had a few trusty employees that you could leave to run the store while you go on the missions?"

"That'd work!" Bonnie enthused before she slumped to the table and blustered, "But where would I get the money to start up a boutique?"

"Heeeeeey," the blond boy drawled as he spread his arms out wide. "You got a friend right here who'd lend you the claude. My dad 's always telling me to be on the lookout for a good investment for my Naco residues."

"Hey, that's right," Bonnie brightened and sat up in her chair. She new that he meant residuals, not residues. "That means I should take some business classes and learn more about the fashion scene."

"Ah yup-yup," Ron whole-heartedly agreed as he got up from the table and started on his chicken dish as they continued to talk. "And you just recently became friends with someone who knows a lot about clothes, that works at Club Banana right now and want to be a fashion designer."

It took no time at all for Bonnie to realize who Ron was talking about. They both said the same name at the same time, "Monique!"

"Jinx, you owe me a soda," the brunette swiftly added.

"Awww Maaaaaan! Not you too!"

Xxxxxx

"But girl," Monique crossed her arms and gave a disbelieving look at the brunette sitting next to her at the school lunchroom table, "you're talkin about five or six years from now! I don't know about you but that's too far in the future to even consider!"

"But it doesn't have to happen after we graduate from college," Kim cut off Bonnie's response to counter her best friend's point. "Who sez we can't get the boutique up and running this summer? Listen," Kim settled back in her seat and started to tick off the things that she, Ron and Bonnie had already lined up in the three days since Ron and Bonnie approached her about opening a clothing boutique. "We checked out that small empty store in the Middleton Mall and found out what it would cost to rent and run the space. Wade has done a little research and has found a few other new, undiscovered fashion designers in the state that want to get their designs out into a store. He's also found a local warehouse that'd be perfect to set up a shop to manufacture the clothes. Ron has talked to his dad about financing the operation; from buying the warehouse and necessary equipment to purchasing the bolts of cloth needed and also renting the store."

"Wade can also set up an awesome website to sell the clothing online," Bonnie quickly added.

"I've also talked to Brittina, MC Honey and a few of the other celebrities that Ron and I have helped over the years," Kim continued. "They're always looking for an up and coming designer to help with their look." She could see the wheels turning in Monique's mind and laid her ace on the table. "Of course MC and Brittina said they'd have to personally meet with the designer before they'd commit to anything."

"Wait," Monique said with her eyes wide with excitement. "Are you sayin that I'd get to meet MC and Brittina in person and talk about clothes?"

"Of course," Bonnie laughed, knowing exactly where Kim was going. "You'd have to sit down for an hour or two to get to know them so you'd know exactly what style they're looking for."

Just then Ron walked into the lunchroom and sauntered over to the table with a big goofy grin on his face. "Hi ladies. I just talked to Mr. B. and he said he'd give us beau coup extra credit if we can pull everything off and start the store. He even said he'd let us have a day off here and there to get the project off the ground... just as long as we kept up with our other homework."

"Okay okay," Monique laughed. "Ya got me at MC Honey. But getting my designs out there and maybe making a few extra dinero wouldn't hurt one bit."

"I gotta mention one other thing," Ron nervously said, anxiously rubbing his neck.

"What is it?" Kim queried.

"Well, I ran into Mr. Martin Smarty when I was at Smarty Mart last night and told him about our idea. He loves our entrepreneurial spirit, whatever that means, and offered one of those little storefronts up near the cash registers for our shop. The rent is a whole lot cheaper than at the Mall and we can use the store's shelves and racks and thing to set it up. He also said that if the shop does well he'd think about expanding to other Smarty Mart stores. He even said we could use his employees to run the thing."

"Wow!" Bonnie marveled. "All that will really help out."

"The only problem is," Ron said, his anxiety rising, "we have to get the store up and running in about a month and... he wants it named after Kim."

"After me?" Kim questioned with a glowing blush. "Why would he want to name the store after me?"

"Well duh!" Bonnie laughed. "You go out and save the world all the time. You must have some sort of name recognition around this town that he's counting on."

Xxxxxx

The four teens: Kim, Ron, Bonnie and Monique, took the next day off of from school to travel to New York City to make arrangements for the equipment (sewing machines and clothe cutters among the other essentials) to be purchased and shipped to Middleton. While Kim and Ron took care of the machinery, Monique and Bonnie went to the garment district and sought out the fabric needed to make the clothes.

When those two jobs were completed, the four teens met up and headed to the U.S. Patent and Trademark office to check on a few things. They were directed to the office of Mr. Patrick Pen Ding, an oriental looking man of about thirty-five years of age who met them at the door to his office and ushered them in.

"Kim Possible and friends," the man jovially greeted the three girls and one boy and led them over to four chairs in front of his desk. "It's a pleasure to meet you, I've been following your exploits in the world press."

"The world press?" Kim queried. "I thought Ron and I only got a little local coverage from the TV stations and newspapers in Middleton."

"Oh, your name is know around the world Miss Possible," Mr. Ding told the redhead in wonderment, spreading his arms wide, "but your picture hasn't been in very many of the articles. Whenever you and your sidekick, Rod, go out and thwart one of the evil villains, it's always mentioned in all of the big newspapers around the world."

"His name is Ron," Kim automatically growled, "and he's more than my sidekick now. He's my boyfriend and partner now."

"I do apologize," Pat Pen Ding sincerely said, taken aback by the venom in the redhead's voice and manner. "I only called him Rod because that's what the newspapers most often report. They never give the same name for your... partner. Most of the time they report it as being either Rod or Don, if he's even mentioned at all."

"That's okay and I'm sorry to harsh on you like I did," Kim explained to the patent officer clerk as she quickly simmered down. "I know they never get Ron's name right in the papers. Now that Ron and I are going steady, I've been working extra hard to clear up that sitch."

"I don't mind it too much, KP," Ron chimed in with a sly smile. "You do most of the work anyway but that also means that the villains don't consider me as a threat. You get the praise you deserve and that's all that matters to me."

"We'll talk about this later," Kim said to Ron, deciding to hold off until they were alone to clear up his misconceptions of how valuable he was to the team. "It would take up too much of Mr. Ding's time to do it now."

"Anyway, I told you that you had a great rep," Bonnie crowed to the redhead, trying to get things back on track.

"That's true," Pat Pen Ding affirmed with a nod. "Now, how can I be of service?"

"We're looking to open up a dress store," Ron said since he was the one who was financially backing the shop, "and my dad suggested that we should trademark the names that we're going to be using."

"That's a very wise thing to do," Mr. Ding said as he turned to his computer and brought up the search engine for trademarks. "What names were you looking to register?"

"Well," Monique spoke up, "since my designs will take up half of the shop, I suppose my label should be registered first. I thought I'd call my line of clothes, 'Designs by Monique' or simply... 'Monique'. "

"There's a trademark for Monique Wear," the man said as he perused the database, "but there's nothing listed for either of your choices. I suggest you go with the first one."

"Me likey," Monique squealed in delight.

"Here's a list of the other people and their suggested trademarks that we're going to sell clothes for," Kim said a she handed over a small piece of paper. "We'd like to register the trademarks in their names and pay for the fees, please and thank you."

Mr. Ding looked over the list and checked it against the computer before he turned back to the group. "I can enter their information in our database and you can pay for them now, but the trademarks won't go into effect until after they send in the signed paperwork. I'll need a signature from each of them."

"That's perfectly okay," Kim nodded. "We'll take the papers to them to sign and they can mail them back to you in a few days."

"That's perfectly acceptable," Pat Ding smiled. "Now as to the name of the store?"

Ron spoke up again. "Martin Smarty suggested that we should name the store after Kim."

"There might be a problem there," Pat said as he typed at the computer again, searching for the trademark he suspected was already there. "If I remember correctly, someone has already registered the name Kim Possible."

"Really? Who would do that?" Kim questioned aloud to the gentleman behind the desk.

"Here it is," Patrick Ding announced with a growing smile as he pointed to name on the computer screen. "It was registered to someone by the name of Drew Theodore P. Lipsky about three years ago, but the trademark expired just a coupla days ago. That means you can legally use the name for the store after you register it."

"Drakken had the trademark?" Ron questioned his redheaded girlfriend. "Why would he trademark your name, KP?"

"I have no idea, Ron," Kim angrily growled. "But you'd better believe I'm going to ask him the next time we meet!"

"I gotta say the name Kim Possible doesn't sound like a dress boutique," Monique cut in, trying to get back to the subject at hand. "Maybe you should shorten it to something like Kim's Place or Kimstyle?"

"Kim's Place is already being used," Patrick said as he check his computer again, "but Kimstyle isn't."

"I thought we might call the store KP," Ron suggested.

"But that's your special name for K," Bonnie responded to the blond's idea. "You don't want everybody to start calling Kim, KP. Do you?"

"Yeah, you're right Bon Bon," Ron said, taking Kim's hand in his and giving it a little squeeze. He turned to the Patent Office person and said, "So we should go with Kimstyle... but we should also register Kim Possible and KP as a trademark. That way we'll be covered if we start a line of bed sheets and toys and action figures and such later on and nobody else can used them."

"And just where did the idea of bedsheets and toys come from?" Kim curiously queried her boyfriend.

"From Martin Smarty," Ron said with his goofy smile shining bright before he tried to imitate the merchandising mogul's voice. "'Ron my boy, always remember to milk every penny out of a well reputed name, and that means merchandising.' That's what he said."

"I don't know about milking every penny out of my name," Kim warily said, "but he does have a point. We'll look in to that at a later date."

After all of the paperwork was completed, Ron wrote out a check for all of the trademarks. The teens wanted to spend the rest of the day exploring the city and maybe taking in a Broadway show that night but they needed to return to Middleton since tomorrow was a school day. They also knew they needed to start interviewing people to work in the warehouse. Ron's father was finalizing the purchase of the building, and the equipment and other material would be arriving soon.

Of course the highly energetic, four way action on the private plane ride home satisfied the teens better than any Broadway play could.