Snippets of Forever:
So Not... The Time to Jump.
-x-
It had been a Friday like any other for Doctor James Timothy Possible.
A typical, early start at the lab that morning had seen him commence his weekend prior to four P.M. - which had been very well earned, to say the least. James and his team had been working tirelessly on getting The Kepler, Mark II off the ground. And while there was still plenty of hard labour to be done, it was nothing that an early afternoon and some quality time at home with his family would impact.
Upon arriving home, James' evening had been comfortingly typical, as well. He had heard all about the boys' day at school, caught up with Kim on her latest college acceptances, stolen a few affectionate moments with Ann, and together with Ron, they had all enjoyed a delicious amount of takeaway pizza for dinner (with extra bacon - of course).
It had all been perfectly, peacefully normal. And as James sat in his arm chair in front of the television later that evening, the next perfectly normal sound he heard was that of voices descending from down the stairs.
And as they grew closer, James could easily recognise the firm confidence of Kim, and the slight nervousness of Ron.
"Relax - he's not gonna' say no."
Oh boy, James thought to himself. This was sure to be good.
"Hey, Dad."
Hitting pause on the remote and swiveling around in his seat, James smirked at the two teenagers.
"Kimmie-Cub. Ronald," he offered invitingly, "How can I help you this fine, Friday evening?"
"Oh, no big," Kim dismissed with a wave of her hand, "We were just going to go catch a movie, actually."
The expectant look in Kim's eye when she shot her vision over to Ron was not lost on James.
"Oh, yeah, heh heh," Ron started, scratching the back of his neck, "But, uh, ya' know, the movie doesn't really get out until, like, twenty after ten."
James resisted a narrowing of his eyes. Ron's feelings for Kim seemed to be outweighing his fears in questioning an obvious break of curfew. Impressive.
"And, ya' know, we would have caught an earlier session, but they're only showing it at the later time tonight," Ron explained, trying not to ramble, "And we're just excited to see it. Is all."
Kim cut in with smile, "You don't mind if I'm home a little later just for tonight, right, Dad?"
Oh, how very assumptive of her.
After the smallest amount of hesitation, James relaxed his shoulders back into his sofa. It was rare that Kim ever asked to stay out later than she was normally allowed, and she had just aced another famous Barkin pop quiz that week. There was no harm in bending his own rules for just one night.
"Oh, what the heck," he finally admitted, "I don't see why you can't stay out a half hour later for one evening. But no later than that - understand?"
"Oh, totally!" Kim agreed. Ron almost felt the pace of his heart slow back to normal at the sound of Kim happily complying with her father. He always had been sort of nervous about stepping on James' toes. But it was nice that he and Kim were able to come to an easy compromise with him.
That was until she tightened her hand around his and began to usher him towards the front door.
"Buuut, we might also stop for ice cream on the way home, so, ya' know, don't wait up!"
"Kimmie - "
Ron was already pale and stripped of all previous bravado as Kim yanked him towards the door behind her.
"Wait, what? No!"
"We'll bring you back a scoop!" Kim sang out innocently over her shoulder.
"Doctor P., I never agreed to this!"
The last panicked word from Ron's mouth was just barely drowned out by the sound of the front door swinging closed - but not quite shut. James rolled his eyes. He considered calling out after the two teens to tell them to be home sooner rather than later, but the doctor knew it was no use. If he ever gave her an inch, his head-strong daughter was always going to take a mile.
He did, however, find himself having to get out of his chair to go and properly close the front door that Kim had left ajar. Shaking his head with each step, James drew in a calming breath when he reached the front of the house. He knew deep down there was nothing to worry about. Kim and Ron would never intentionally go out of their way to break any rules, whether they were his, or Ann's, or the Stoppables', or otherwise. They were smart. They were mature.
And they were currently in the middle of one very steamy looking make out session in the front seats of the Sloth when James peered through the crack in the open door.
Quickly shutting it back in place, James spun around on the spot and froze, wide-eyed.
Okay, he told himself. Okay. This was all fine. This was all still fine. Kim and Ron were dating - they had been for close to five months now. Of course they kissed each other, James had seen it before. He had just never seen it with such... vigour.
The thought made his head spin for a moment as he strolled back to his place in the living room. His shoulders shuddered as he tried to erase the image from his mind. Surprisingly enough, it wasn't so much of a challenge. But that's only because another thought he had from just a week prior on his living room couch was stronger than anything else he could have seen in the last sixty seconds.
It wasn't confronting, and it wasn't sensual, and it definitely wasn't as vigorous. It was simply the image of how tightly Kim had clung onto Ron after the Mathter's effects on him had been reversed, and the way they had looked at each other in the quiet moment of relief.
It was a moment that had hummed in the back of his mind ever since he saw it. He had thought about it at breakfast the next morning, and he had thought about it at work all week. And it had certainly stuck with him for the rest of this night, in particular. Even as he found himself getting ready for bed beside his wife much later in the evening.
James sat upright in his and Ann's king-sized bed, almost staring straight ahead, completely blank. He was tapping his right index finger on the side of the glass of water he held in his hand, and almost jumped in surprise when his wife emerged from their en-suite, raising an eyebrow at him.
"Everything okay, dear?"
James blinked once, shifting his vision when Ann joined him in bed. She reached over to the side table, squirting out a decent portion of perfumed lotion that she rubbed gently between her hands.
The rocket scientist tentatively licked his bottom lip, "Do you..." he stuttered, "Do you think Kimmie and Ronald have become... intimate?"
Without even flinching, Ann shrugged her shoulders, "Probably, hon."
The sip of water he had taken immediately got caught in the back of his throat as James coughed and sputtered in surprise.
Ann glanced at him with a skeptical smirk.
"Why would you tell me that?"
"Why would you ask if you didn't want me to be honest?" she argued gently.
Ann's smile morphed into something a little more sly as she read the irrational horror slowly materialising across her husband's face.
"They haven't had sex, if that's what you're worried about."
James' expression instantly drained to the most sickly shade of pale white. A bead of sweat rolled down his face as he spun slowly to place his water on the bedside table.
"Sex?" he repeated cautiously, "Has she told you that?"
"No, she hasn't."
"Then how do you know for sure?"
"Mother's intuition, sweetheart," she confirmed without a second thought. She rolled her eyes then as James continued to stare right through her, "She would tell me if she had. That's how I know."
"I knew I shouldn't have let them stay out tonight, I should - "
"Honey," Ann warned, reaching for James' arm, "They're seeing a movie and getting some ice cream together, not roaming wildly all over Middleton."
James went to protest again before he was cut off by a sharp narrowing of Ann's eyes.
"You know your daughter's smarter than that."
James was stubbornly silent for a moment. The progeny of a rocket scientist and a brain surgeon - of course she was smart. But Kim's relationship (a word that still made James shiver from time to time) was not a one-way street.
"It's not only Kim we have to worry about."
Giving his forearm one last squeeze, Ann slowly pulled back as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"James," she started, a stern nature to her tone, "Kimmie and Ron have been best friends as long as they can both remember. They would never do anything rash, or irresponsible, or in a way that would hurt one another."
"You sure sound certain."
The Possible matriarch resisted a long sigh as she softened her gaze at her husband. As much as she could only imagine what her daughter was actually thinking and feeling, it truly was new territory for all of them.
James had never worried about Kim. Not to the extent of panic, at least. Never about how she did in school, never when she was babysitting, and never when she was on her missions. But in a serious relationship, with a serious boyfriend? That was different. And Ann understood that.
"I will talk to her, okay? About her and Ron, about their relationship, about everything. Just leave it to me," she tried to assure him.
At the end of the day, Ann couldn't blame James for how he was feeling. She was almost on the very same page as him. Did she want her daughter growing up too quickly? Of course not. But Ann was just much more realistic than the stone-aged idea of strapping a chastity belt on her and locking her in her room.
"But she's not a little girl anymore. She's almost eighteen. You need to trust her."
James mimicked his wife then, folding his arms across himself. Ann was right - of course she was right. Twenty plus years, and she was never not right. It just stung a little to hear in that moment.
He did trust Kim. Always.
"As long as you talk to her. I suppose. We can keep an eye on her. On both of them."
"Just try to relax, dear," Ann urged with an eventual laugh, "Those two love each other more than we know."
Almost on cue, the sudden sound of the Sloth pulling up in the driveway echoed from outside as the reflection of the headlights bathed the Possibles' bedroom in yellow.
James looked over his shoulder, glancing at the digital clock at his bedside. Ten thirty-nine P.M.
But the time suddenly wasn't anywhere near as triggering as the last words Ann had just spoken.
"Kimmie's told Ron she loves him?"
"Well, not so much. Just because I can see it doesn't mean that Kimmie has completely realised it yet."
"And Ronald has?"
The headlights from the Sloth flicked off as the engine turned silent.
Ann could only smile, finally snuggling closer to her husband.
"Oh, honey - that, I am certain of."
Downstairs, meanwhile, Kim was being thoroughly swept off her feet from the second she stepped out of the Sloth.
She'd barely even planted her feet in her family's driveway when Ron had zoomed around to her side of the car to close the driver's door behind her.
A rosy pink blush was quick to fall into her cheeks when she glanced up at him, "Always the gentleman."
"Well, hey, gotta' stay on your good side, right?"
"Like you even have to try," Kim spoke sweetly. She raised an eyebrow at him them, "Not gentlemanly enough to buy me popcorn, though, hm?"
Ron's expression dropped, "But I've already been to the movies once this week to finally catch that new Bricks of Fury flick with Felix! And it's not my fault that I don't pick up my next Smarty Mart paycheck till next week, and - "
"Kidding! I'm totally kidding," Kim cut in with a teasing smile. She reached for Ron's hand, tracing the outline of his fingers with her own, "I had a really good time."
Ron's heart skipped a beat, "Me too."
By this point, Rufus has already silently scurried out of Ron's pocket and up to the front door of his parents' house. The tiny mole rat could clearly see where this was going. It was a cloudless night in Middleton, and a million bright stars were speckling the dark sky. Winter was right around the corner, and a cool breeze tore through both of them as Kim took a step closer to Ron.
But as the redhead wrapped her hand around her boyfriend's even tighter, it wasn't just the change of season that was making Ron shiver.
It almost turned to a nervous sort of squirm as he looked down at his feet.
"Ugh... so hate this part."
Kim's brow crinkled into a slight frown, "Hate what part?"
"Having to say good night when you're sleeping literally twenty feet away from me."
The immediacy of his answer almost caught Kim by surprise as Ron shot his eyes back up to glimpse at her. The feeling of staring out of her bedroom window across at his own in the late evenings was certainly not unfamiliar to her.
A butterfly tumbled through her tummy as she used her free hand to push a strand of hair behind her ear.
"It won't be forever," she spoke, almost as a soft promise, "Then every night will be like an overnight mission."
The last four or five syllables that fell off Kim's tongue caused goosebumps to pop up all over Ron's skin. Memories that flooded back of the two of them huddled together in a tent, or a bunker, or a cabin across the four corners of the globe were all too frequent for him. His knees wobbled at the thought of them holding each other to sleep, swapping infinite kisses, and roaming up and down each other's body with just slightly timid hands.
He couldn't wait until that wasn't just a one-in-ten missions sitch any more.
But as if he had anything to complain about in that exact moment.
"So, for now, I guess we'll just have to make do..."
She didn't have to ask him twice.
Ron's lips practically crashed into Kim's when he dropped his hand from hers to take it to her waist. Her mouth turned up into a smile that tasted as sweet as ever, and he matched it ten-fold as her bottom lip dropped open for him. A deep exhale from his lungs mimicked the lowest of low moans from hers as her hand crawled up between his shoulders to tickle the blonde hairs in the nape of his neck.
She always drove her crazy, in the best possible way. The way she felt, the way she smelled, the way she tasted. It made him want to explode.
And the second her kiss fell away from his, he very well almost did.
"I - um..."
They were still mere millimetres away from each other when Kim almost laughed under her breath, looking up at him.
"What?"
Ron mentally kicked himself. Damn it.
"I, um, can't wait to see you tomorrow."
Kim's huffing breaths turned into a real giggle as she brushed her nose against Ron's.
"You are the biggest dork," she whispered with another laugh, "But you're the sweetest dork in the whole world."
Any other near-words he might have dared spoken were quickly cut off when Kim pecked at him once, twice more before taking a reluctant step backwards.
"Good night," she sang gently.
Ron reached back down to squeeze her hand one last time, "Sweet dreams, KP."
As he watched her leave, Ron's own stomach started performing adoring backflips. Man - if Kim's dad ever really did take any liberties with him after their extended date that evening, she sure as hell was making it all worth it.
He took a few extra seconds to follow her figure as Kim made the short, safe trip from the car to her front door, before Ron finally willed himself to spin around and meet Rufus at his own. The happiness in his eyes and on his smile was indescribable. But it was nothing compared to the emotion he felt in his heart.
Ron couldn't quite put it all into words. At least... not for right now.
And just like that, I am back! :)
Let me start by thanking everyone so much for all the love I received on the last chapter. I appreciate it all so, so much! And I'm happy to be back so quickly!
I hope you all enjoyed this short, little snippet as much as my last upload. As much as these are all standalone one-shots, it's just as important to note that they really are all relevant to one another and will be building to many more significant moments in Kim and Ron's relationship, and how it affects the rest of their families, like our ever-protective James here... but I'm sure that's obvious ;)
Would love to hear your thoughts here! Thanks in advance for any more lovely words and feedback.
I hope everyone is keeping safe and well!
Till next time,
Reneyyyyyyyy x