Disclaimer: The Walt Disney Company owns all rights to the characters and situations associated with Kim Possible. I borrow Kim, her family and friends for no monetary gain. I do this only to keep from going insane. Is it helping? (The correct answer is, yes. If I'm able to ask the question then I haven't gone completely bonkers… just yet.)
The Closet II
Chapter 10
Money Talk
The following morning, except for the sizzling bacon in the skillet, the kitchen was virtually as quiet as a tomb. Ron was manning the stove again while Kim and Jan sat at the table pensively sipping their orange juice. Dean, obvious to the wee bit of tension wafting between the two woman as all men normally are, was sitting next to his wife reading the newspaper.
"Jan," Kim quietly spoke as she leaned over so only the woman of the household could hear her, "I know you were watching Ron and me last night. I just want to let you know that I'm not ready to be a mother just yet so we haven't taken that last full step to become adults."
"I know you're only sixteen and think you're a bit too young," Jan softly said as she leaned in to Kim so neither of them would be hear by Dean or Ron, "but your mother and I talk all the time so I know you're on the pill and can't get pregnant right now. I don't see any reason why you and Ronnie can't practice a bit before you're ready to have my grandchild."
"As much as I'd love to practice," Kim quietly said with a full-blown blush, "Ron and I still have to get through high school before we can even think about the possible consequence of doing that. Then there's college to consider and finding a job…"
"You shouldn't worry about such things," Jan whispered back with a motherly pat on the leg, then turned her attention to her husband and raised her voice to a normal level. "Dean, honey, since Kim is here this morning I believe it's the perfect time to go over Ron's portfolio with the kids."
"If you think the time is right," Dean chuckled as he folded the newspaper, set it aside on the table and got up. "I'll just be a minute." He left the kitchen.
"What do you mean my portfolio, mom?" Ron questioned as he served breakfast to the two women sitting at the table.
"Ronnie, don't you remember that check you got from Bueno Nacho last year?" Jan laughed as Ron went back to the stove to finish getting breakfast ready for his father and himself.
"Oh yeah," Ron said in realization as he cracked a few eggs in the skillet, "that check for my Naco idea. I forgot all about it."
"You've forgotten that you received a check for ninety-nine million dollars?" Kim gasped in indignation to her boyfriend. "How can you forget about all that money?"
"It's easy when I don't see it or get reminded about it every day," Ron said as he broke the yokes and stirred the eggs up to scramble them. He added a little milk into the skillet and stirred again as he continued, "Dad's been giving me a small allowance each week and that's all I need right now so I don't think about the ninety nine mill."
"That little allowance is chicken feed compared to what you could be receiving Ronald," Dean said as he returned to the kitchen with a one inch thick folder and sat down at the table again. "Bueno Nacho just sent you another check covering this past year's sales of the Naco and I've been doing a little investing on the side." He pulled out a single sheet of paper from the thick folder, proudly looked it over for a few seconds then handed it to Kim.
"The check Ron just received is for one hundred twenty million!" Kim gasped at the figure at the top of the page. "The two checks add up to almost a quarter of a billion dollars!"
"That's not all," Dean jovially said with a hint of pride in his voice as he pointed to lower on the page in Kim's hand. "As I just mentioned, I've been dabbling in the stock market with the initial money from the first check and have done quite well, if I do say so myself."
Kim's eyes grew wider and wider and her mouth dropped open in total shock as her finger ran down the page.
"What's the sitch Kimila," Ron questioned as he walked over to the table and set breakfast in front of his father and his place before sitting down. "What's the bottom line?" He grabbed a bottle of hot sauce that was sitting on the table and liberally doused his eggs with the fiery red liquid before taking a huge forkful into his mouth.
Kim, still staring at the page and frozen in place out of shock didn't answer. Jan gently pried the page from Kim's firm grasp and handed it to her son as she said, "All in all, you portfolio is closing in on a half a billion dollars Ronnie."
"Half a billion bucks," Ron laughed before he dug in to his breakfast, "I guess maybe I could get a little increase in my allowance."
"Ronnie, no talking with your mouth full," Jan playfully chided her one and only child. "What would Kim say?"
"Oops, sorry mom," Ron replied, covering his mouth full of scrambled eggs.
"Kim, dear," Jan said gently patting the cheek of the still stunned redhead to bring her out of her dazed state, "eat your breakfast before it gets cold. You still need to go to school this morning."
"Scho-scho-school?" Kim stuttered, finally coming partially out of the shock she was experiencing over Ron's vast wealth. "Wh-who can think about school at a time like this? Ho-how can everyone not be floored by these huge numbers?"
"I'm an actuary," Dean casually explained as he put the page back in the folder and set it to one side before tucking in to his breakfast. "I work with these kinds of numbers all the time."
"And you know I work at the bank," Jan blithely said as she kindly patted Kim's hand on the table in a condescending manner. "These huge figures don't phase me at all either."
"What about you Ron?" Kim queried, looking over to her boyfriend who was just finishing off his plate of food. "Why don't all these huge numbers phase you?"
"As I said earlier KP," Ron said as he got up from the table and took his empty plate to the sink to rinse off, "as long as I don't see 'em every day I don't think about 'em."
"So now that you know," Jan said as she forked up a portion of her eggs and lifted it to her mouth, "you can see why I don't mind you practicing with my son. Ronnie loves you and you have nothing to worry about, financially speaking, so a family is a strong possibility in your future. How much in the future is up to you."
"I guess you're right," Kim laughed before she began to eat her scrambled eggs.
"Come on KP," Ron enthused as he headed for the kitchen door. "We need to get going or we'll be late for school."
"I'm coming Ron," Kim said before she forked one last heaping portion of eggs into her mouth and got up from the table. Kim quickly chewed and swallowed before she stopped while laying a hand on Dean's shoulder to talk to him. "By the way Mr. Stoppable, can I get a copy of Ron's portfolio? I'd like to show it to my father."
"Are you gathering ammunition to get your father to see the light?" Jan lightly chuckled to the redhead.
"Something like that," Kim laughed as she followed Ron to the door. "Mom may be on my side but knowing my dad, it's best if I had all the ammunition I can get my hands on before I face off with him."
xxxxxx
Dinner had just finished at the Possible house and the twins raced into the living room to watch some TV Trash Heap. Ron and Kim, who decided to eat at her house since they had breakfast at the Stoppable's, helped the Possible parents with the dishes in the kitchen.
"Mom, dad," Kim started as she washed one of the plates in the sink, "we need to talk about something."
"Is it about your therapy session with Ron last night?" her mother coyly queried as she took the plate from Kim, dried it off and handed it to her husband to be put away. "Because Jan called and talked to me today while I was at work."
"Yeah, it kinda does," Kim nervously tittered as she started washing another plate. "Did she mention our conversation at the breakfast table?"
"No she didn't," Ann replied and slyly cocked her hip while drying her hands with the towel, "I only had a few minutes to talk before I was due in surgery. What all did you discuss at the breakfast table?"
"We talked about my portfolio," Ron said as he brought over the last of the dirty dishes from the table and placed them on the counter next to Kim. "I guess I got another check and my dad's been doing a little investing."
"Another check?" James Possible questioned as he returned from the cupboard after putting the clean plate away. "What are you talking about Ronald?"
"Yeas dear," Ann playfully chimed in. "What are you and Ron talking about? What kind of check did Ron receive?"
"Last year Ron received a royalty check from Bueno Nacho for his inventing the Naco," Kim informed her parents. "It was fairly large so we took it to Mr. Stoppable to handle."
"That was wise of you," James said as he received another cleaned and dried plate from his wife to put away. "I wouldn't trust anyone else beside Dean with my money but, how big was the check?"
"I receive a nickel for every Naco sold world wide," Ron happily chimed in as he leaned on the counter to watch Kim wash the dishes, "and dad said I just got a second check for one twenty."
"One hundred twenty dollars is a tidy little sum for a boy your age," James laughed as he put a third plate away in the cupboard. "What do you plan on doing with the money? Do you have a college fund set up already?"
"One hundred twenty million dollars daddy," Kim slyly said as she snatched back the freshly washed, wet plate she had just handed her mother before the brain surgeon could drop it out of shock. "And the check Ron got last year was for ninety-nine million dollars."
"Ronnie is worth one hundred nineteen million dollars?"
Kim was right. When Mrs. Dr. Possible asked the question her fingers shot out wide, dropping the dish towel, before moving to cover her mouth out of shock. If Ann had been holding the plate she would have dropped it. Kim gently guided her information overwhelmed mother over to the table to sit down.
"Actually dad said the portfolio is somewhere in the neighborhood of a half billion bucks right now," Ron casually announced as he took over the washing of the dishes duty for Kim while she attended to her awestruck parents. "I guess he has some mad investing skills in him."
"That was the second part of our conversation this morning," Kim said as she also ushered her nonplussed father over to the table. James, like his wife, was totally pole axed by the out-of-the-blue financial news.
"So," Ann nervously started as she slowly shook her head to clear the cobwebs that were forming from info overload, "do I even want to know what the first part of the conversation was about?"
"I think you know most of it mom," Kim said as she sat down between her parents and laid her hand on her mother's which were tightly clinched on the table top. "Jan watched Ron and me in the closet last night for a little while and in the morning all but told me what she expects from us. She said we should start practicing for the day I'm ready to have her grandchild."
"Grandchild?" The word had obviously shaken Mr. Possible out of his stupor. "What are you talking about Kimmie-Cub and what in the world have you and Ronald been doing in his closet?" He turned to his wife and practically yelped, "You told me they were simply sleeping together. Not, well…. sleeping together!"
"We haven't had intercourse yet," Kim sternly stated, "if that's what you're implying."
"We're only touching each other Mr. Dr. P.," Ron happily chimed in as he finished washing the dishes, picked up a towel to dry his hands with and started drying the dishes. "It helps calm me down after I've had a bad bout of dreaming."
"Thank you for the added info," Kim growled between clenched teeth, "but if you don't mind I'd rather tell my parents what's going on in my own words, please and thank you."
"Whatever you want KP," Ron happily lilted, not paying any attention to Kim's somewhat sour mood from his interruption. He started to whistle a loony little tune as he continued to dry and put away the dinner dishes.
The three Possibles silently watched Ron happily work for over a minute as they sat at the table. Finally James spoke up, harshly stating, "Kimmie-Cub, you're too young to start having sex!"
"James," Ann chided her husband for his crudeness as she firmly patted his hand. "Remember how old we were when we first started making out?"
"I guess you're right," James sighed as his chin dropped to his chest. "We'd just graduated from high school when we first started tussling between the sheets." He raised his head to look at his wife as he firmly said, "But we were all set to head off to college together. We both had scholarships and…"
"And Kim and Ron already have all the money they'll ever need for the rest of their lives," Ann said cutting him off. "The only difference between us and them is their age and it's only two years difference."
"Can I step in here and say that is waaaaaaay too much information?" Kim anxiously asked as she stood from the table and leaned on it with both hands, not wanting to hear about her parent's sex life. "I only brought up the subject because I don't want to lie to either of you two and to let you know about Ron's good fortune. I'm not ready to take that final step into adulthood and become a mother and I don't think I will be for a while."
"That's good to hear," Ann said as she stood up and took her daughter into a loving hug. "I guess your father and I have a lot to talk about, especially since I'll have to bring him up to speed on a, certain, topic."
"A… certain topic?" James gulped hard, fearing what other news he needed to hear about his sixteen year old daughter who he just found out had been sleeping with her longtime friend in a closet and ran all over the world with said friend to save said world. He suddenly remembered all of the long distance flight Kim and Ron had taken over the years and brain freeze hit him hard.
"You mean my meds?" Kim whispered to her mother which elicited a smiling nod from the older redhead.
"The dishes are all done KP," Ron joyfully announced as he tossed the dish towel in the air and caught it in both hands. "We still got a few hours before bedtime. Do you wanna go outside and practice?"
"Our martial arts," Kim nervously added to her parents. "Ron means practice our martial arts."
"Surrrre Kimmie," Ann said condescendingly as she turned her daughter around and pushed her toward the back door. "Why don't you and Ron go outside and practice while your father and I have our little talk."
"Thanks mom," Kim said in relief now that she wasn't going to be part of the more embarrassing discussion to follow. She grabbed Ron's arm and headed for the door.
"But don't we need to go up to your room and change into our mission gear?" Ron innocently queried as he steered Kim toward the kitchen door leading to the rest of the house. "We usually do before we spar."
Kim's head shot around to see the reaction from her parents. Her father was looking sternly at the young couple but her mother was unsuccessfully trying to hold back a laugh. Finally Ann calmed down enough to say, "Go on kids. Go get changed before you start your training."
Kim didn't wait for her father to say anything. She firmly grabbed onto Ron's arm as she raced for the two staircases leading up to her bedroom.
Kim expected a huge scene when she and Ron reentered the house after their two hour sparring match, but nothing happened. There were no explosions of emotions, no raised voices of indignation of the situation, there wasn't even a single frown coming from her father who was serenely sitting on the sofa watching television with the twins.
The only words spoken where those from Ann Possible who was busy setting up things in the kitchen for the morning breakfast. She simply stated, "Remember to bring your dirty clothes down to the laundry room after you take a shower, kids. I'll start a load of wash before I go to bed."
Kim found the whole scene so surreal that she was sure Drakken or Dementor or someone had replaced her family with synthetic clones or some such diabolical plot mechanism. But not being one to look a gift horse in the mouth Kim nodded and went upstairs to shower and get ready for bed.
Ron simply agreed to the request and went into the downstairs bathroom to shower and change clothes so he could head for home and get a good nights rest.
Kim brought her dirty mission clothes down after her shower and found her mother in the laundry room sorting clothes. "Here you go," she said laying the cargo pants, cropped top sweater, socks and underwear on the counter. "Night mom, love ya."
"One moment Kimmie," Dr. Possible softly said, stopping her daughter in the doorway. "We need to finish our conversation from earlier."
"I was expecting it to happen when Ron and I came in from the backyard," Kim nervously laughed as she returned to her mother's side to assist with the clothes sorting. "Am I grounded for life for sexual misconduct with a minor?"
"Kimmie," Ann softly groused as she loaded the washer with colored clothes, mainly pants and shirts. "You and Ron are both minors and that's you father's main source of concern."
"What about you?" Kim cautiously asked as she casually held up her mission sweater to check it over for stains and signs of wear.
"As I told you when we first talked about this last year before you went to see Dr. Infanté," Ann said as she turned to her daughter, took the sweater from Kim's hands and absently stuffed it in the machine, "I understand that you and Ron would eventually become curious about sex but I don't think you two are ready for that just yet."
"But Ron's a millionaire and we travel all over the world taking down the bad guys," Kim burst out defensively. "Doesn't that give us the right to be adults and do adult things?"
"In the eyes of Mr. and Mrs. Stoppable…?" Ann asked and paused for a beat as a smile slowly emerged on her face before she answered her own question, "…Yes it does. And it does in my mind too. As I said back then, you've matured more rapidly than any of the other kids your age and I believe you deserve any perks we adults have since you've been so honest about the whole situation. You've even shown me how mature you two really are since you haven't gone all the way over the past year even with your meds." Her countenance swiftly soured. "Your father on the other hand still sees you as his prepubescent daughter; His little Kimmie-Cub. I don't think he'll ever see you as anything other than his little, four year old girl with pigtails until after you've graduated from college or have moved out of the house for at least ten years."
"I guess dad is like most other fathers," Kim lightly chuckled as she leaned on the dryer and watched her mother put some more clothes in the washer before starting it. "They all hate to see their little girl grow up, don't they."
"That's a universal constant," Ann laughed and headed out to the kitchen followed by Kim. "He's not one to say it but your father is very proud of you and all that you've accomplished at such a young age." She turned and brought Kim into a loving embrace before adding, "And so am I."
"Thanks mom," Kim cooed as she returned the hug. "And as I told Jan this morning and you this evening, I'm still not quite ready to take that final step and I don't think I will be for a while. I don't know when, but I know Ron and I are partners for life so he'll be the one I'll do it with."
"Your father and I couldn't have picked a better or more deserving young man," Ann said as she broke the embrace and sat down at the table. "We both already think of Ron as our son-in-law so he's already part of the family and as such, we've come to a decision."
"What kind of decision mom?" Kim questioned as she sat down.
"It was your father's suggestion," Ann hesitantly started as she took Kim's hands in hers, "but we think you and Ron should buy a house here in Middleton." She firmly gripped Kim's hands to prevent the questions she was sure her daughter would raise as she quickly added, "We suggest this merely as an investment. Owning a home will build up your credit history and property accrues equity over the years. You also have the option to lease the house to someone for an additional income if you want to. We don't expect you and Ron to move in until much later but it is something you should consider."
"Wow," Kim nervously laughed, "a house."
"Actually," James said as he walked in to the kitchen and raided the refrigerator for something to drink, "I went over to talk with Ron's father for a few minutes while you and Ronald were in the backyard sparring. Dean showed me the portfolio and we discussed a few options. He told me it's something he was going to bring up with Ronald the next time they went over the portfolio."
"Well I suppose if both of you and the Stoppables think it's a good idea…" Kim started to say before her father, with a huge smile on his face, cut in.
"Oh it's more than a good idea Kimmie-Cub. I already know the perfect house for you and Ronald to invest in."