Disclaimer: Disney owns all that is Kim Possible. I receive nothing for these stories I write except your reviews and the 'Dude looks like a lady'. (Aerosmith.)
Xxxxxx
Goth
Chapter 18
Toast, Take 2
Xxxxxx
It was the morning of the boutique's grand opening and Bonnie was quietly eating her breakfast in the kitchen of the Rockwaller home when she heard the front door open. That could only mean one of two things. Either her mother had forgotten something on her way to wherever she disappeared to every Saturday or her two sisters had come home for the weekend.
Judging by the almost twin voices and laughter coming from the front foyer, Bonnie knew she was in for a bit of grief.
The brunette settled deeper into her chair so she could completely ignore the twin terrors' barbs as they came into the kitchen.
"Well, look at our little Bon Bon," Lonnie started as soon as she saw Bonnie sitting there. "A black leather, three-quarter sleeve top with military style lapels, black leather pants and knee length black boots with three inch heels. You'd almost think she's finally gotten some fashion sense in that small brain of hers."
"That can't be," Connie said in mock surprise. "We both know Bonnie doesn't have a lick of sense, fashion or otherwise."
Bonnie just sat there, staring at the far wall nibbling at her toast and ignoring the verbal jabs just like the last time her sisters were home.
"At least she's not using that awful black makeup anymore," Lonnie chided, "and dying her hair."
But unlike last time, Bonnie just couldn't resist a snappy comeback considering the ammunition she had gathered in the two months since she'd seen them last. "You mean like the way you two have been dying your hair since sixth grade? I think you should stop, considering how the dye is probably seeping into your brains and affecting your grades in college."
"What are you talking about?" Connie gasped.
"I saw your real mid-term report cards when they arrived in the mail the other day," Bonnie said with a growing grin as she stood up and took her dishes to the sink. "Unlike the fake ones you created and showed to mom."
"When did you see our grades?" Lonnie yelped defensively.
"If you'd ever listen to me," Bonnie said as she stopped in the doorway to the attached garage to finish the conversation, "I said when they came in the mail. They were addressed to you so I steamed open the envelops and made copies before I resealed them for you to find. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get to work."
"What kind of job could you get?" Connie sniped at her younger sister, forgetting for the moment about the report cards and hoping to gain the high ground again. "Are you slinging burgers at the Cow and Chow?"
"No," Bonnie said, her barracuda grin coming out in full force. "My dress shop, the one I own, is opening today. You've probably heard about it. It's called Kimstyle and I'm part owner and the manager."
"Kimstyle?" both Connie and Lonnie gasped at the name. Ron, Kim and Bonnie had been hyping the store in the Tri-City media during the past week and word was getting around. Connie anxiously said, "That supposed to be the hottest new stores in Colorado and maybe east of the Rockies! I went to their website and ordered a few things already."
"I know," Bonnie said, her evil smile amping up a bit. "I waylaid your order. You should be getting an e-mail rejection notification in your mailbox today. I decided I couldn't have the wrong people wearing the right fashions. Ta Ta!" With that and a cutesie wave over the shoulder, Bonnie walked out the door to her car parked in the garage.
Xxxxxx
Bonnie couldn't believe her eyes as she walked up to the rolling mesh door that separated the boutique from the front part of Smarty Mart. It was fifteen minutes before the shop was suppose to open and there were already fifty or sixty people lined up to get inside and shop.
"Can you believe it girl friend?" Monique squealed in delight as she let Bonnie in under the roll-up gate. "Some of these girls have been waiting out there for eight hours, since midnight, to get in and shop!"
"I knew we should've opened earlier," Martin Smarty said as he walked up to the two girls and shook Bonnie's hand. "You had a tremendous idea Miss Rockwaller. The store is going to be a big success! I'd better call in a few more employees. This is also going to affect sales in my store!" He pulled up the gate, quickly ducked under it before it was three feet off the ground and swiftly disappeared as the gate rolled shut on its own.
"Where are K and Ron Ron?" Bonnie begged, looking around the fairly small shop.
"They're over there, behind the floor racks by the registers," Monique excitedly said as she dragged Bonnie over to the side where a long table had been set up. Kim and Ron, in their signature mission wear, along with two of the other designers, were sitting behind it. There was also an empty seat for Monique. "Mr. Marty Smarty thought it'd be a good idea if K, Ron and I were available to sign the clothes if the shoppers wanted us to."
"I so feel like an idiot sitting here," Kim groused as she anxiously clicked open and closed the cap of a black marker in her hands. "I don't go on our missions to gain fame or fortune."
"Chill-ax KP," Ron joyfully said as he sat up straight and shuffled a bit in his seat to get more comfortable. "We only gotta sit here for two hours and Rufus will probably get most of the recognition."
The naked mole rat was standing on the table next to an ink pad, nodding his head. He flipped open the pad's top, squished his paws onto the inky surface and then held them up, ready to 'sign' whatever needed his signature. "Uh huh, uh huh! Ready!"
Bonnie giggled at the rodents antics before she turned back to Monique and asked, "Well fame aside, are we ready to open the store?"
"I hope so," Monique said as she glanced around the shop. "The racks and shelves are fully stocked and we got plenty of extras in the storeroom if we get a little thin out here. We got two people manning the registers which'll leave you and two other Smarty Mart girls free and clear to help the customers on the floor until K , Ron and I finish at the table."
"Bon Bon!" the overly cheerful voice that always grated on Bonnie's nerves sing-sang from beyond the roll-up door. The brunette cringed as she turned to the voice and tried to put a smile on her face.
"Hi mom," Bonnie genially forced out as she walked over to the front of the store. "What're you doing here?"
"I was just looking in to see how my little Bon Bon was doing on her first day of work!" Mrs. Rockwaller squealed in delight. "I'm just so proud of you!"
"Thanks mom," Bonnie sighed, grateful that her mother was finally acknowledging at least one of her accomplishment. "But if you think I'm doing a good job getting this store off the ground, then maybe you should start thinking of me as an adult and stop calling me by that childish nickname."
Mrs. Rockwaller was taken slightly aback for a second before she sighed a heavy sigh and said, "I suppose you're right sweetie. I have been treating you and your sisters with kid gloves like you were my little girls. I received your sisters grades from college yesterday and found out they tried to trick me with some phoney report cards. That's why I asked them to come home this weekend."
"They tried to trick you?" Bonnie smiled a sly little smile at that piece of news she already knew about. She indignantly said, "That's terrible... but I suppose it was inevitable with the way they've been treating me over the years. Connie and Lonnie think they can get away with anything and everything." She'd have to find a way to thank Wade for contacting the college to tell them that the initial mid-term report cards had been lost and asking them to send a new set to her sisters ( the ones she steamed open and copied) and another specifically addressed to her mother.
"Yes," Bonnie's mother solemnly agreed. "I'm beginning to think you were telling the truth all along when you kept telling me that those two were being mean to you. I guess I've never treated them firmly enough." She perked back up to her overly sunny disposition and said, "Well, I'm going to pull them out of college and make them get a job. Maybe a little discipline will do them good. You don't have a job for them here, do you?"
"No!" Bonnie yelped in anguish at the thought of working with her sisters before she settled down with a great ideas. "No, we've got plenty of help here at the boutique, but I hear Cow and Chow might have a few openings." The thought of her two sisters with beehive hairdos and wearing those god-awful skimpy, pink uniforms made Bonnie practically giddy.
"Connie and Lonnie working as waitresses?" Mrs. Rockwaller thought about it for a few seconds, then nodded. "I think that would be a wonderful idea. Not only would they have a job, they would also be getting a good cardio workout with lugging all those heavy orders to the tables. I'll go over there right away and pick up a couple of applications."
"The boutique is opening in a few minutes so I really need to go get ready," Bonnie said as she looked out and saw the line of waiting customers had more than tripled in the few minutes she had been there. "Thanks for stopping by and I'll see you this evening."
"Best wishes with your store, Bon Bo..." Mrs. Rockwaller said as she turned to walked away before she caught herself and turned back to look Bonnie directly in the eyes. "...I mean Bonnie. I'll see you tonight, Bonnie."
The brunette just stood there, stunned. It looked like she was finally winning at home. Her mother had just called her by her given name, for the first time in like forever, and her sisters were about to get their comeuppance. Life was finally, finally looking up at home.
Bonnie was broken out of her revelry when Monique joyfully bounced up to her, grabbed her by the shoulders and squealed, "As Kim would say, 'let's get started, girl!' It time to get this party on the road!"
"You're right, M," Bonnie said as she grabbed the gate and lifted it open. "It's time to get my head in the game." She spread her arms out wide in greeting and loudly said, "Welcome to Kimstyle ladies. Don't push, we have plenty in stock so if you don't see the size you want, just ask."
Xxxxxx
Bonnie's opening sentence almost seemed prophetic. Around one P.M. she had to drive over to the warehouse to pick up more stock of a few items but overall, they didn't run out of anything.
The shop opening was covered by the local TV and radio stations which greatly added to the crowd, bringing in hundreds of additional shoppers, which pleased Martin Smarty to no end. Most of the customers decided after coming to and buying something specifically at the boutique, that they needed something from the retail giant box store too. It turned out to be the highest sales day ever since the store dedicated to consumerism had opened.
The doctors Possible and Ron's parents showed up around noon with take-out from Bueno Nacho for the four teens which they had to wolf down before getting back to work. (Not a problem for Ron and Monique; they simply had one of their normal speed-eating contests. Kim and Bonnie hurried with their lunch but didn't finish until well after the other two.)
Mr. Dr. Possible quipped that they didn't have store openings like this when he was a teen which earned a patronizing nod from his wife and a roll of the eyes from his daughter. Mrs. Stoppable bought a pair of light blue Capri pants and a lime green cropped-top tank top, two of Kim's usual pieces of attire, which embarrassed Ron to no end at his mother's choice of clothing.
Lonnie and Connie showed up at one point during the morning but Bonnie immediately called for the Smarty Mart security officer and had them tossed out of the store as troublemakers. The thought of having them arrested for shoplifting danced through Bonnie's mind but she was talked out of it by Kim and Monique.
The crowd thinned out around six P.M., finally giving the four teens a well-deserved breather. Kim clicked closed the black marking pen and sighed, "I have never signed my name so many times in my entire life." Even after the celebrity signing table had been put away an hour later than it should've been, the redhead was still being asked for an autograph throughout the day.
"Yeah?" Ron blustered. "Well at least they were asking for your autograph. I didn't get to sign nothin. The only thing they wanted from me was info on where I got Rufus."
"Uh-huh uh-huh," Rufus cheered from his normal perch on Ron's shoulder. "Aisle forty-seven."
"Awww, poor Ron Ron," Bonnie playfully chided as she grabbed his hand and started to lead him to the back room. "I know just the thing to make it all better."
"Just be sure not to mess up the stock too much," Monique whimsically yelled to the couple. "We'll need to put it out for tomorrow."
"The painters left a drop cloth back there after they were done painting the store," Bonnie reminded her friend/coworker. "That'll do just fine by me." The two teens disappeared behind the door to the back room. Rufus had hopped down from his perch and scampered over to Monique just before the door closed.
"I think I'd better keep an eye on them," Kim lustily said as she turned and quickly headed for the stockroom.
"You do that girl friend," Monique laughed as she watched the redhead make a beeline for the back of the store. "I'll come get'cha if we get busy out here and relieve you two in a half hour for my dinner break."
Kim stopped with her hand on the door knob and smiled at her friend. "Better make that an hour. I have a hankering for sausage and I want to eat my fill."
Xxxxxx
Sunday was almost a repeat of the grand opening. The boutique was inundated with buyers practically all day. (Martin Smarty had observed how busy the shop was all day Saturday and called in every single one of his workers, overtime be damned, for Sunday's expected business. His store was also making money hand-over-fist.)
With all the extra help, eight extra Smarty Mart bodies instead of the four like yesterday, the girls took advantage of the situation and dragged Ron into the storeroom for an occasional quickie.
Wade contacted Kim early in the afternoon and informed her that the on-line orders were increasing exponentially due to the media coverage and word getting out from the previous days shoppers. After a brief meeting with Bonnie, Ron and Monique, it was decided to order additional sewing machines to increase production.
Then they decided to double the order when Martin Smarty informed them that he wanted to open boutiques in three other Smarty Marts, (Miami, Kansas City and Seattle to be specific) to further test the marketability of the boutique.
After the boutique closed at six o'clock, it being a Sunday and all, the four teens hopped into Bonnie's car and drove to the bank to deposit the days' receipts in the overnight slot. Then they drove to Kim's house. Mr. Barkin had demanded that a final update be presented first thing Monday morning on the entire operation, so they had to get that ready.
"Wow, I didn't realize how much paperwork was involved with running a business," Bonnie marveled as the four teens sat around the Possible kitchen table and went over all of the information they needed for their presentation.
"Yes," Kim agreed as she shuffled different pieces of paper on the table. "Between order forms, inventory, employee records of employment and insurance, sales records and receipts and what not, there's a lot of paperwork."
"Not to mention bank records, copyright records and ownership papers and permits," Ron groaned as his head hit the table. "I'm glad we don't have ta keep records of our missions."
"Don't worry, Bookkeeper Boy," Monique condescendingly said as she patted Ron's back in sympathy, "we'll help keep everything straight. We don't want you to have ta go to jail or anything since your name is at the top of the business papers."
"Jail!" the blond boy yelped in surprise, his head shooting up with a wild expression on his face. "Why would they send me to jail?"
"Don't worry about it Ron," Kim huffed and glared at her girl friend for bringing up that subject. "The only way they'd prosecuted you is if the government found you were doing anything wrong. But first they'd levy fines... unless it's a blatant mistake that you did on purpose to avoid taxes or something, and that won't happen. Your mom and dad are overseeing the books until the staff they hired clock in."
"Yep, it sure is handy to have an Actuary and a bank Assistant Manager as parents," Bonnie giggled before she started to straighten out and gather all the papers on the kitchen table into the appropriate piles and placing those into separate folders. "Now, since we have everything in order here, what do you want to do?"
"I'm ready for some stress relief," Monique slyly smiled. "Let's go to Club Banana and shop!"
Bonnie laid her head down on a pile of the papers she had gathered and said, "I can't believe I'm saying this... but I don't think I want to see another new shirt or dress for a month!"
"I can believe it," Kim said as she fully stretched out on the bench seat and laid her head in Ron's lap. The two straight days of running around helping customers finally catching up to her. "I am totally with you on the no shopping front."
"Well, I need to go in there anyways," Monique said as she got up from the table. "My two weeks notice ain't up til this next Friday and I need to find out what's new on the shelves so I know what's what tomorrow after school when I go in for my shift. The store might be closed for the evening but someone's always there overnight to restock."
"Have fun Monique," Ron tiredly cheered as he watched her leave. He turned to Bonnie and asked, "Do you want to go in to the living room and watch TV or a movie or something?"
"Agony County should be starting in a few minutes," Kim, with her eyes closed, said in contentment as Ron stoked her hair with one hand and massaged her back with the other. "It's a rerun but Ron and I missed it when we went up against the Seniors a few months ago."
"Agony County it is then," Bonnie said as she wearily got up from the kitchen table. "I'll tune the TV to the right channel."
"I'll get us something to drink," Kim said as she struggled to push herself up to a sitting position, then wearily got up from the table and headed for the refrigerator.
"And I'll make the snackage," Ron tiredly chimed as he slid under the table and got to work. "How about some popcorn?"
"Cheese!" Rufus enthusiastically cheered from Ron's pocket with a fist pump in the air.
"Don't worry, little buddy," the blond boy assured his nonhuman companion as he pulled out an eight quart pot and a bag of un-popped popcorn. He placed the pot on the stove, added some cooking oil then dumped the entire bag of kernels in. "I'll melt some cheese on the popcorn and chuck up some cheddar for us to chew on to boot."
Xxxxxx
"Awww, aren't they just adorable?" Dr. Anne Possible joyfully gasped when she and her husband came in from a late afternoon of shopping and found the three teens asleep on the couch in front of the television. A fresh bowl of cheesy popcorn, which Rufus was happily munching away in, was sitting on the low coffee table next to three freshly poured sodas and their show, Agony County, was just starting.
"Adorable isn't the word I'd use," Dr. James Possible angrily growled when he saw how the kids were arranged. Kim was snuggled in to Ron's right side, her head on his shoulder, and Bonnie was on the left of the blond boy mirroring Kim's position. That was all fine and dandy to him.
What got James' goat was that Bonnie's black shirt was totally unbuttoned and wide open, showing everyone that she wasn't wearing a bra and Kim's mission shirt and sports bra were lying on the floor. Ron's arms were around the two girls with his hands tucked deep into the girls unbuttoned and unzipped pants, clearly on the inside of their panties. The button and zipper of Ron's pants were also undone with the girl's hands were burrowed under the waistband of Ron's Steel Toe boxers. The three teens had clearly been in mid grope when they had nodded off.
"I'd say Ronald is making a good case for him becoming the youngest person to be send into space... and I can have a rocket ready to be moved onto the gantry by tomorrow morning."
"James!" Anne harshly chided as she pushed her husband towards, and into, the kitchen, "you'll do no such thing!"
"But you saw them in there," James protested to his wife. "Ronald was making out with both Bonnie and my Little Kimmie-Cub! That can only lead to sex! And sex between multiple partners can only lead to jealousy, misunderstanding and heartbreak. I will not let my little girl go through all of that!"
"You're going to have to let Kimmie go through it," Anne said as she went to the refrigerator to get something to drink, "because the sex has already begun. If you didn't noticed a few months ago, there are two bedrooms over at the apartment and only one of them was being used for storage. You figure out what the other one is being used for."
Dr. James Possible's eyes opened wider and wider as his genius brain did the calculations and came up with a solution he didn't like at all. He heavily plopped down into his usual seat at the kitchen table. "Ronald and Kimmie-Cub... and Bonnie?" he begged in disbelief.
"Plus a few of the other girls," Anne casually said as she sat next to him. "I don't know if it's still going on but I found Kimmie and Bonnie, along with a few of the other cheerleaders about a month ago, naked at the apartment, waiting their turn with Ron." She didn't mention that she'd found the entire squad along with Monique and Vivian Porter at the apartment. If she told him everything she had seen, James would probably go into immediate cardiac arrest or total brain meltdown... or both.
The only questions James could come up with was, "And Kimmie was okay with it? Did she know what was happening?"
"She was sitting at the kitchen table doing her homework," Anne answered with a slight shrug. "So I would guess that she knew."
James just sat there, stunned. His elbows were on the table and head clasped in his hands. This was just too much information for even a rocket scientist to process all at once. After a minute or two his brain rebooted and he asked, "If you knew about it at the time, why didn't you tell me?"
"I didn't tell you for one simple reason," Anne said, placing a loving hand on his shoulder as she sat down next to her husband, "because you're her father. You're a father that can't fathom that his little girl is seventeen years old and has grown up. Your overprotective streak won't let you. Kimmie's grown up now and has turned into a strong independent woman, but you'll always see her as your little girl."
"Am I really that bad?" James questioned.
"Yes," Anne said with a sly smile, "but don't worry. It's a common trait amongst men; especially among men who love their children as much as you do. I'm sure Ron will go through the same thing when he and Kimmie have a daughter of their own."
"My Kimmie-Cub is pregnant?" James leapt to the wrong conclusion from Anne's last sentence because he was still so rattled.
"Hopefully not yet," Anne smiled and patted his shoulder as she stood up to put her drink away. "Kimmie is on birth control so she shouldn't become a mother until she wants to have children."
"Birth... control?" James hesitantly gulped.
"Yes James," Anne slyly smiled. "She's been on them for three or four years now. They also help control acne breakouts and regulate her menstrual cycle so she's been taking them since she hit puberty."
James' head slowly lowered and thumped against the hard surface a few times before he sat up again. "This is all just too much to think about. I think I'll go take a nice long drive and pick up Jim and Tim over at their friend's house." He stood up but stopped in the doorway to the garage, turning back to his wife and grinned. "At least the boys didn't see those three in the living room. I can just imagine their shock and the cootie alert Jim and Tim would've call seeing them like that."
"You go pick up the boys, James," Anne laughed as she headed back to the refrigerator. "I'll get dinner started and wake up the three love-birds."
Xxxxxx
Dinner was awkward to say the least. Kim seemed to have a permanent blush on, knowing that her father had seen her, Ron and Bonnie on the couch, half naked and practically in the act. James, for his part, couldn't look at his daughter and her two friends without choking on his food and the two young boys could sense something was... off, with the family dynamics but couldn't figure out exactly what.
The former Queen Bee of Middleton High was having a relapse, thoroughly reveling in the awkweird predicament Kim was currently in while Anne was just waiting for someone, either her husband or daughter, to burst into spontaneous combustion.
Ron was simply enjoying his meal, unaware of what was happening at the table. He scooped out another helping of herb spiced mashed potatoes and said, "You've outdone yourself Mrs. Dr. P. This meal is deli-icious!"
"Why, thank you Ron," Anne answered with a sly smile. "I suppose you really worked up an appetite at the boutique and then with all that went on after you three arrived here."
Twin spit-takes came from the father and daughter Possibles. "MOM!" Kim knew exactly what her mother was inferring.
"Yes Kimmie?" Mrs. Dr. Possible innocently asked. The twins laughed. They knew something was going on, that it involved their sister and that it was extremely entertaining. Kim was in some kind of situation that their father didn't like and when it came to a head, they wanted to watch. But Mr. Dr. Possible had other ideas.
"Boys," their father started in that voice that brooked no argument, "why don't you go into the living room with your supper and watch some TV?"
"Awwww," the two thirteen year old boys simultaneously whined as they got up from the table, grabbed their plates and headed off, grumbling in unison, "We don't ever get to see what happens when Kim's in trouble."
"I'm not in any trouble, Tweebs," Kim harshed at her brothers. She caught the hard scowl on her father's face and muttered under her breath, "At least I hope not."
James waited until the twins were out of the room and the television could be heard before he turned on his daughter. "Kimmie-Cub..."
"Don't you Kimmie-Cub me," the younger redhead vehemently cut him off. "I'm not a little girl any more, dad. I'm seventeen years old now."
"I realize that Kimmie," Mr. Dr. Possible got out before he was cut off again.
"And Ron and I love each other. How we express that love is entirely up to us."
"That's not entirely true," Dr Possible said with an 'Ah Ha' finger point to the ceiling. "You aren't considered to be adults until you reach the age of eighteen. Until that time, you are minors and subject to the laws of this state. You could all be charged with sexual assault or statutory rape with a minor."
"Ah, I beg to differ, Dr. P," Ron said through a mouthful of mashed potatoes and brainloaf. He chewed his food and swallowed before immediately shoveling another heaping forkful into his mouth, not paying attention to the anticipatory stares he was receiving from the two adults and two girls at the table.
Fifteen seconds of Ron eating followed before James finally had enough waiting for the blond boy to explain his statement and practically shouted, "What are you talking about, Ronald?"
"Oh!" Ron yelped, slightly taken aback by the sudden forcefulness of the question. He set his fork down, wiped his mouth off with his napkin and said, "KP, Bon Bon and me are in the clear with the law, Dr. P. The Colorado State Statute number, ah..." he appeared to be thinking for a few seconds, scratching his chin and peering off at nothing in particular, before he continued, "... 18 dash 3 dash 402 says that, and I quote, 'Sexual assault, to knowingly inflict sexual intrusion or sexual penetration on a victim that is, one, under the age of fifteen if the perpetrator is at least four years older or, two, at least fifteen years old but less than seventeen years old and the perpetrator is at least 10 years older,' unquote. Since we're all seventeen years old, the laws don't apply to us."
Everyone at the table was in total shock at what Ron had said. Kim was the first to gain her senses and asked, "Ron, why do you know that law by heart?"
"Well, KP," Ron sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck in typical Ronnish fashion, "if you remember, we were interrupted just before our first time by Motor Ed and his gang stealing those cars in Atlanta. On our way back in the GJ jet, I snuck off for a few seconds and tapped their computer database to check the laws and see if we could be in any trouble... and we can't."
"That was very resourceful of you Ron," Mrs. Dr. Possible congratulated the blond boy before she turned to her daughter, "but your father does have a point, Kimmie. Even though you're old enough to have sex..."
"I call what we're doing, making love," Kim interrupted her mother.
"Okay," Anne took her daughter's correction in stride. She knew Kim usually was very precise in the language she used. "Even though you're all old enough to make love, the display we walked in on isn't something Jim and Tim should see. You know I'm okay with what you're doing but maybe you should only make love somewhere other than in the house where the twins could interrupt you." The Brain Surgeon looked over to her husband for approval but only got a blank stare from the Rocket Scientist.
"That sounds reasonable," Kim nodded in agreement as she blatantly took the opportunity to slip her engagement ring onto her left ring finger. "But there's something else we need to talk about, mom. Ron and I hope to get married in the future and we'd like your blessing. That way we can officially become engaged."
"I was gonna ask you sometime after school was out for the summer, Dr. P.," Ron said to the father of his girlfriend/fiancée, "but now seems to be as good a time as any. Can I have KP's hand in marriage?"
"Ahhhhhh," was all Dr. James Timothy Possible could come up with, his brain suddenly shutting down again after seeing the engagement ring for the first time.
"I think you two getting married would be wonderful," Anne enthused with a squeal of delight. "When would you want the ceremony to happen?"
"At least not until after we turn eighteen and we've graduated from high school," Kim said to her mother.
"Although we could get married right away if you preferred Dr. P.," Ron said through a mouthful of food as he started to eat again. He quickly added, "But we'd have to get your written consent since we're not eighteen yet."
"No."
The weak, single word response came from a wide-eyed, blank staring James Possible and it brought the happy mood of Kim and Anne to a screeching halt.
"What do you mean, no, dad?" Kim questioned.
James finally got it together, stood from his chair and leaned on the table. "I said no and I mean it. You're way too young to be thinking about getting married Kimmie-Cu... er, Kimmie. And I think you're making a mistake letting other girls have their way with Ronald. I can't see why you're letting Bonnie and some other girls sleep with Ronald. That can only lead to trouble."
"I don't think so, dad," Kim vehemently stated. "You may be able to broaden your relationship with mom in the bedroom with books, but Ron and I don't have those kinds of resources available. After all, it was you who put the parental block on my computer so we had to seek other ways to broaden our horizons in the bedroom."
"But," was all James was able to retort before his wife cut him off as she dragged him out of the dinning room and into the kitchen.
"James, we need to talk before this gets out of hand."
"Anne, I think I have things well in hand," James blustered as he faced off with Anne in privacy. "Kimmie need to understand what's she's getting into if she continues down the path she's on."
"And it's her path to take, dear," Anne replied with a kind, patient voice. "If she's making a mistake, we should let her make it and learn from it. I seem to remember a certain college student interested in rockets that made a few sexual miscues when he first climbed into bed with a redheaded woman."
"Yes, welllll..."
"Think about it this way, James," Anne said with a sly smile. "If Ron and Kimmie are engaged or get married right away then you won't have to worry about her dating any unknown other boy for the rest of her life. You already know Ron and how he views our daughter. He worships her. Ron has been Kimmie's best friend and constant companion since they met in Pre-K and he would never let anything bad happen to her. As a matter of fact, I'm sure Kimmie is the one who took the lead in their sexual experiences."
"That's all true, Anne," James finally acknowledged with a heavy sigh after thinking about the various points she'd make for a couple of second. "Kimmie is a leader while Ronald is definitely a follower, but I'm still not happy with the multiple partners issue."
"That's only because you weren't a player in high school or college," Anne said with a small chuckle at her husband's expense. "If you hadn't been such a geek in school, you could've scored quite a few times with multiple partners before we'd met..." she ran her fingers through the white streak of hair above his ears, "...as handsome as you've always been."
"You're trying to manipulate me, Dr. Possible," James said with a wary eye, but a light chuckle in his voice.
"That I am, Dr. Possible," Anne coyly replied before she gave him a quick peck on the lips. "And since you're smart enough to see through my ploy that means you're smart enough to see I'm right."
James simply nodded at her logic.
"So," James said with a heavy sigh as she stood up, "both Kimmie and Ronald turn eighteen a few weeks after school is out. Maybe we should go back in there and set a date."
"Are you sure about that, honey?"
"If it keeps my Little Kimmie-Cub out of the hands of any other boy," James said as he started to head back into the dinning room, "then I'd be happy to walk her down the aisle and hand her over to Ronald this very minute. I know he'll protect her almost as well as I've tried to over the years." He stopped before he got to the doorway and turned back to his wife. "And considering they save the world as a hobby, I think he may even be more qualified for the job than I ever was."