A/N
It's been awhile for this story I know, boy do I know. XD Worst of all, the last chapter of this story may have been some of my better pieces of writing. So I've got to make up for time and live in the shadow of that last chapter. Oh and I'm on the last legs of my last semester in college. So I'm on Graduation road road folks! Needless to say I've got a lot of the noggin lol
But anyway enough about me. Here's the chapter XD
Six Months Ago:
The cell phone had been vibrating profusely for the last ten minutes when he finally slipped it out of his pocket. He was set to disconnect the call before catching sight of the caller ID. For a moment he considered his next action before taking the call and placing it against his ear.
"What is love?" said the cheery voice from the other line.
"What?" Ron recognized the voice immediately as the one that belonged to his little sister. "Is mom there? Does she know you're calling?"
Ron heard his sister's exasperated sigh. "The lady on the T.V said 'I love you' to this man, but before that, the man first said 'I love you' to the lady's sister. The sister got in a car but then the car exploded and now she's in a hospital sleeping for a long time. So now the first lady was going to shoot the man, but she cried and said 'I love you' to him.…and then she shot him with a gun."
"What…What the heck are you watching?!'
"Passion hospital of the Young, Bold, and Restless."
After a moment of scanning through the vast Rolodex of television programming titles that occupied the section in his brain that should have been reserved for Math; a image of the program his sister had been watching sprang up in his mind. Hannah was watching a soap opera, a contrived yet very racy soap opera.
"Han….What happened to Sesame Street?"
"Booooooring!" Hannah chirped happily from the other line. "So what is love?"
"OK, sis, I'm sorry but I'm very busy right now so I'm going to hang up, and when I do, I want you to change the channel and watch some cartoons ok? …..do you hear me? I'm going to hang up Hannah, I'm gonna…..Hannah, I'm going to hang up."
Pause.
They both new that he was bluffing and the longer he waited the more awkward the silence grew.
Ron groaned. "OK, Love is um…I guess it's like when, uh OK, see, even though mom has seen dad laying around like maybe a thousand Sunday mornings in his underwear, kind of sweaty with a pooch belly, and she still says he is more handsome than Burt Reynolds…"
"Who is Bert Rainolds?"
"He's a guy who used to be handsome when mom was young.…The point is Han, there's like three billions guys in the world and mom only wants dad…."
Silence
"I don't think that's good enough."
"What?"
"I need a better answer."
Ron grabbed at his hair. "What's wrong with my answer?"
"I still don't know what love is."
"Hannah, I barely know what love is!"
"But you're old!"
'I've got a long time to go before I'm old, Han" Ron countered. "Love will come to me eventually."
"How will you know? You don't know what it is."
"I do know....I've been close OK…I think…" Ron sighed. "Sometimes Han when you're with someone you like a lot; you get tingles…..tingles of happiness around your whole body."
"Tingles, like when soap bubbles get in your nose?"
"Yeah, yeah, let's go with that. The uh tingles make you smile and as long as you're around that person you'll almost always feel like smiling. Because no matter what happens just being with that person makes you want to smile."
There was another pause. Ron feared that this would go on all afternoon.
"I like tingles" Hannah replied.
"Everyone likes tingles Han, everybody wants the tingles."
"K"
"Han I'm going to go, but first I want you to change the channel. Put the phone next to the TV so I can hear you change the channel."
Ron heard a slight whimper from his sister, before hearing bursts of dialog from various channels. He sighed in relief. What were his parents doing while Han's mind was being corrupted? Hmm it was likely something he did not dare imagine.
Suddenly he heard Hannah coo. "Ooo kung fu channel!"
Alarms rang off in Ron's head as he listened to the furious sounds effects of physical blows and screeching men. Without him there to gauge the level of violence on the kung fu movies and deem them acceptable she'd watch all kinds of hyper violence.
"Why did that guy's head come off?" Hannah seemingly asked herself.
"No, Han turn away from the gratuitous yet comical violence. Where is mom and dad?"
"Bye, bye bro, thanks for teaching me!"
Dial tone
Ron placed the phone against his forehead and let out a heavy sigh. Now he would have to re-install the V-chip at his parents' place.
"Ahem!"
Ron glanced up at his Art History professor, then at his bewildered classmates, and then back at the Professor. "That was my younger sister sir, I can't turn it off...the phone I mean, with her on the line."
"That is very touching Stoppable, however the next time she calls during my class room, feel free to step outside."
"Yes sir." Ron muttered. "I'll make note of that, sir.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Present:
"The greatest treasures are those invisible to the eye but found by the heart."
Ron blinked in confusion at the thin strip of paper in his hands. He then crumpled the paper into a ball and tossed it over his shoulder. "That's not even a fortune! If you take the fortune out of fortune cookie and all you have is a bad tasting cookie."
"Are you done?"
Ron glanced over at Kim's direction. "Something wrong?"
"We picked up Rufus from the car right?" Kim said.
He nodded.
"Then we stopped by the store to pick up some of your sister's favorite ice cream, and a newspaper for your dad right?"
"Ya."
"Somehow you spotted an old arcade game and you felt like playing for nostalgia reasons, I watched you play five "lives," then you realized you hadn't had fortune cookies in a long time and we got some of those."
"Productive evening wouldn't you say?"
"You're stalling" Kim snapped.
"What?!"
"I know what you're doing, you're hoping I get tired and go home."
He paused, for awhile. "I am not."
"You're still trying to keep me in the dark huh?" She leaned in close to him, uncomfortably close.
"I would never…" he stammered.
"You're right, I'm not just in the dark, I am in a black hole, blindfolded."
"Wow that is some deep dark…."
"Are you trying to convey to me, oh so subtly, that your parents are embarrassing?"
Ron shrugged. "My parents are relatively normal in the embarrassment department."
"Your sister?"
"My sis is pretty cool."
"So what's the problem?"
Ron ran his right across the back of his neck and took in a deep breath. "I uh…it's just that over there it's harder for me to contr...uh never mind."
"Tell me the problem and maybe I'll understand."
Swiftly he brought up the newspaper to shield himself from Kim's glare. "Wow these are some killer ads."
He quickly scanned the newspaper for any resemblance of an advertisement. "Check this out fifty tampons for just three dollars."
Kim snatched the newspaper from his hands.
"No strings attached….."
Kim crumpled the newspaper up into a ball.
"Sounds like a bloody good deal…."
Then she unceremoniously tossed it into a nearby public wastebasket
"You done with the bad jokes?" she asked.
"Very." He exhaled. "To clarify that was the act of a very poor defense mechanism
"I understand. You can lead the way Mr. Stoppable."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Well here we are." Ron announced as they stood quietly before the Stoppable residence. "This is where I spent my formulative years."
"What years?" Kim grinned.
"You know the formatalive…."
"Come again?" She teased.
"The early years!"
Kim glanced around taking in her surroundings "I suppose the word you were looking for is formative."
"I suppose you suppose correctly" Ron muttered under his breath.
Kim turned one hundred and eighty degrees; she stepped off the Stoppable front porch, glanced around and stepped back on the porch. Ron watched in silent confusion.
"What are you…uh...How am I supposed to respond to what you're doing?" He asked eventually.
"My mind is being blown; you live like less than five minutes away. You can probably throw a rock into my front window from here."
"I kind of had the same reaction when we got to your house."
"You did, I didn't notice it."
"It was an internal reaction" he explained.
"Well…" she sighed. "It's perfectly reasonable to see why we never met. I mean we did go to different schools. I went private."
"Again product of the state" Ron said raising his right hand.
"My school had specialized after school programs, I spent my afternoons and weekends there when my parents had to work."
"I ran home to watch television."
"Club Banana?" She continued.
"Comic book store."
"Library?"
"Arcade."
"Museum of modern and Avant Garde art?"
"Come on, that doesn't even exist….does it?"
"See." Kim sighed to herself. "The chances of us meeting were pretty slim."
Ron nodded. "They probably got worse when we left home, weird how things worked out."
"Yeah weird" Kim replied with a hushed tone.
"So close, yet so far away, y'know."
"Right."
What followed was a less than golden silence. The two friends twittered on their heels while they stood across for each other. Ron anxiously ran his hands across the back of his head while Kim glanced off into the neighborhood. Ron hemmed and hawed the seconds away as he collected his thoughts.
"Would you call this uh….Is this what they call an uncomfortable silence?"
Kim turned towards him. "I uh I don't know what to call this."
Before either one could utter another word, the front door of the Stoppable home swung open. Their heads whipped towards the threshold to see Mrs. Stoppable step out into the night.
"Mom?"
"I thought I heard something, come in, come in." Mrs. Stoppable said cheerfully.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Truth be told it was a heartwarming scene. Richard and Cheryl Stoppable graciously invited Kim Possible into their world. In a whirlwind of activity, introductions were made, pleasant small talk was exchanged, and snacks were handed out. And it happened so quickly from Ron's perspective, that he found no time to significantly monitor the progress of the evening. It was as if they had been shanghaied into situation. One second they were at the door and in the next they were in the Stoppable living room sitting beside each other on the couch. Ron had been truthful in saying his parents generally were a normal source of embarrassment for him, which was typical for most parents. Thus his guard was reasonably lowered. In hindsight this would be a mistake, one he didn't realize until he was staring at himself on the television screen in his parent's living room. Ron stood up with an incredulous look upon his face before the television.
"What's going on here?"
Kim and his parents stared up at him as if he had just crashed the party. They sat there, gathered together as if were the most natural thing in the world.
"Home videos?"
"Oh don't worry." Cheryl said dismissively as she held up a DVD case featuring the Stoppable's on the cover. "It's not any old home movies, it's the highlights. A 'best of' so to speak."
"Explain to me again how this is not insane."
His father adjusted in his seat. "Well you rarely bring any lady friends home, so we took this as an opportunity to pack everything in at once."
"Somehow I think there's been a misinterpreting of the foundation of this relationship" Ron said.
Mrs. Stoppable waved him away from the television. "This is the one we sent in to America's funniest families! Let me set it up. Now this happened recently, Grandma Estelle requested that Ron cook for her seventieth birthday."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The camera shook slightly as it focused on Ron's dour face. His mother's voice suddenly came in clear from off screen.
"Hello sweetie, how are you doing in here?"
Adjusting the chef's hat on his head Ron glared at the camera. "How am I doing? Let me see I'm hot, I'm greasy and I've lemon pulp in my eye."
He pointed to his right eye that now featured a reddish tinge from irritation. He tightened the apron strings around his waist and sighed. "I could be so copacetic under the shade of a tree right now, just me, the cool breeze, the soft grass, and a portable video game system. But instead I'm here cooking dinner for every Stoppable in the tri state area."
The camera zoomed while a female hand reached on screen and pinched Ron on the cheek. "Just think of the smile on Grandma's face."
Ron nodded. "Hey I'm willing to go the extra mile for grandma-ma but……this would be so much easier if….you know….there weren't so many people in the kitchen!"
The camera swung around revealing about a half dozen or so Stoppable family members milling about the kitchen, some engaged in small talk, others raided the fridge and party coolers.
"Dad, what are you doing!"
The camera swung back to Ron who was currently staring to the left. The camera panned to the left where Richard Stoppable came into focus as he curiously licked the tips of his fingers.
"I think the chicken should be marinated in….barbecue sauce."
The camera panned back to Ron.
"What?" He said incredulously. "It's not chicken….it's quail!"
The camera returned to Mr. Stoppable as he pondered on the statement. "Hot sauce?"
Ron groaned off screen.
"Your father's knowledge of gourmet food…..is not why I married him."
"Just stay away from the stove dad" Ron bemoaned with the camera centered on him again. "You guys are so distracti---"
Before Ron could finish his sentence a thick white glob-like substance hit him in the right ear. His face distorted in disgust, Ron wiped the slick ooze from his face.
"Look everyone its cream of geek!"
The camera switched off Ron to his teenaged cousin Shawn who was cracking up in a far corner of the kitchen.
"Shawn that is rude!" Mrs. Stoppable blurted out from behind the camera.
Suddenly Ron's five year old tiny tot of a sister stepped into the camera's view. She glanced at Shawn before bowing before him at the waist.
"Everyone chooses their own path. You have chosen to dishonor my brother; if you have guts you will accept my challenge."
Shawn glanced at the camera in confusion. "Huh?"
"Hai!" Hannah took a fighting stance before she quickly planted her tiny fist into Shawn's crouch. The boy let out a muffled whimper before collapsing to the ground in a heap.
"Hannah! Hitting is not allowed you naughty girl!" Cheryl exclaimed.
Hannah hid her glee by bowing for a second time. "I'm sorry, but the warrior cares not if he's called beast or a dog; the main thing is winning."
"She's right mom." The camera went back to Ron who was grinning from ear to ear. "The main thing is winning…Let me guess Han, that quotable is from…Win Chung Kung Fu of the Gods part 2?"
"Part one." Hannah shouted from off screen.
"Vintage" Ron nodded. "Although I appreciate the backup lil sis, remember the classic line from IP Man the wandering warrior…. 'The angry man will defeat himself in battle as well as in life.' Remember that lesson grasshopper."
"OK!"
"Oh my goodness!" The camera whipped towards the left. The oven comes into view with the door hanging open and flames sprouting from the inside. Richard Stoppable stood a few feet from the inferno, looking everything but innocent.
"What, did, you, do?" Ron shouted.
"Um….Hot sauce..." Mr. Stoppable stammered as he rushed to a nearby cupboard.
"My quail!"
Hannah jumped back in front of the camera. "Everybody!" she shouted. "Stop, drop and roll!" The little girl quickly dropped down onto the ground and began rolling along the kitchen floor.
A moment later Richard Stoppable returned with a fire extinguisher and let the foam fly. When the commotion finally died down, Ron peered into the oven. With a sheepish look on his face Richard shrugged at the camera. "Pizza…?"
The camera tilted down to the still rolling Hannah. "Stop drop and roll, stop drop and roll" she continued to call out mirthfully.
"Hannah you're going to ruin that beautiful dress! You haven't even had it for a week!" Mrs. Stoppable blurted out.
"No pizza, it's not over yet…..." Ron pulled his face away from the over with sooty residue covering most of his face. "This is for grandma's sake!"
Hannah suddenly jumped up to her feet. "Oh yeah round two!"
"Stepping up for grandma" Ron shot a fierce look at the camera. "What's our fowl situation?"
"We're all out." His father announced. "But I can run out and get a few buckets of fried chicken."
"Do it!" Ron blurted. "Bring me the junk food and I shall Ron-cycle it into a dream meal."
Hannah leaped into the air again. "Ron-cycle!"
Ron re-tied his apron strings and readjusted his hat. "Change of theme folks we're going from French chic, to Southern dandy!'
"And I'll help" Hannah exclaimed.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"I forgot all about this" Ron chuckled. "Grandma ended up loving the meal, I still can't believe I managed to pull that off…." He stopped when he noticed no one was paying attention.
Mrs. Stoppable placed her hand on Kim's shoulder. "He only brought his last lady friend by the house once or twice. You'd think he was ashamed of us."
At the end far end of the couch Ron leaned forward. "You're making a great case for yourselves tonight aren't you?" Ron turned to his father "dad!"
Mr. Stoppable pointed at the screen. "This is a good one; this is the first stage of Ron's first identity crisis."
Ron brought his palm to his face. "It's called teen angst; it's as American as a football shaped apple pie!"
"Let me set this up for you Kimberly." Richard said. "Ron we've noticed at times tends to get a little melancholy. So we have little discussions about life and such with him. In this particular case one thing led to another and Ron became a philosopher for two weeks. He went around pontificating on the great questions of the world."
"It only lasted a weeks and a half…" Ron stated as his voice once again came from the TV.
"If you choose not to decide have you made a choice?"
"That's a legitimate question" Ron said quickly.
"Would a fly without wings be called a walk?"
All three heads turned to Ron at the same time.
"The intellectual backlash in this house is very disturbing." Ron blurted out as he rose to his feet. He turned to Kim, "you don't want to watch anymore right?"
Kim glanced up at Ron and their eyes met. She saw the pleading look on his face, and then she caught sight of the expectant faces of the older Stoppables through the corner of her eyes.
"Well…while I am enjoying the video I'd actually like to meet Hannah."
A smile flashed across Mrs. Stoppable's face but it disappeared as soon as it appeared. "Oh actually it's her bed time…..and well, she's been a bit down lately" She said sadly.
Kim noticed Ron's eyebrows furrowing in concern before returning to Cheryl. "What's happened?" she asked.
"Well, Swimmy passed away today."
"Swimmy died?" Ron muttered. "That reeks."
Kim studied the faces around the room. "Um Swimmy?"
"Han's pet fish" Ron replied.
"She's taking it hard." Mr. Stoppable explained.
"A fish called Swimmy, that's uh unique." Kim stated.
Hands in his pockets Ron rocked back and forth on his heels. "Well you know kids and their imagination," he chuckled.
"Didn't you name him son?" Richard Stoppable asked. "And planty, and scaly…?"
Ron once again placed his palm against his face and sighed heavily.
"Son you should know she's taken a vow of silence over Swimmy's death."
Ron nodded. "Street Fighter Sisters, her favorite movie. The main character Lian Xianxe takes a vow of silence, after her kin were killed by the evil Mao Tian."
Mrs. Stoppable's face blanched. "Oh dear, how long do you think Hannah will remain silent?"
"For Swimmy?" Ron mulled the thought over in his head. "Three days."
"Your really know your sister." Kim remarked.
"She uh….I guess so."
Kim turned her attention back to the Stoppable's. "Well that's too bad I was looking forward to meeting her. I've heard so much about her."
"Why don't you two go and check up on her."
Kim looked over at Ron and noted a moment's hesitation. "Well I don't want to impose."
Ron skipped quickly into the dining room snatched Rufus' cage off the dining room table and returned to the living room area. Then he made a sudden and abrupt gesture with head. "Come on, she knows I was bringing a friend, if I don't introduce you, I'll be in the doghouse…"
With that said Kim rose to her feet and followed him out of the living room.
"No hanky panky up there!" Ron heard his father say with a chuckle as he and Kim climbed up the stairs to the second floor of the house.
Ron sighed. "KP you've got a good handle on the law, is there any way I can spin it as a crime of passion at my trial?"
"Depends, if you kill them after I leave then the State will probably see it as premeditated."
"I figured." Ron muttered as he reached the top of the stairs. "I'm sorry you had to sit through that vid."
"Actually I found it to be very enlightening."
Ron stopped and allowed Kim to walk past him. "Enlightening how?"
Kim glanced over her shoulders. "Well I have two new theories about you, and now I need the empirical data."
She turned away and he called out after her. "Hold on…….remind me what empirical means?"
She turned to him. "Well a central concept in the scientific method is that all evidence must be empirical, or empirically based, which means dependent on evidence or consequences that are observable by the senses."
"Huh…..so you're going to test me?"
"I never said that."
Ron narrowed his eyes at her. "So what are you saying?"
"I'm saying…. I'm going to get to know you."
Ron opened his arms out wide. "You know me....enough"
She responded to him with an arched eyebrow. He wanted to rebut but he found the eyebrow gesture more disarming then any argument she could have possibly made. He stood in silent befuddlement before coming up with something clever.
"OK, if you don't know who I am, then why are you my friend?"
She opened her mouth to answer but Ron cut her off. "Wait, don't answer that, I rather not know."
Kim pursed her lips in apparent reflection before nodding to herself. "I've got three theories now."
"FYI KP, you're not making me regret bringing you over." Ron stopped before a door, reached out and tapped lightly against it. "You know I've never knocked on my own bedroom door before. It's feels so wonky."
"I would ask what dictionary I'd be able to find the word "wonky" in, but I'm more interested in why you've stopped knocking."
Ron stared intently at his door. "Hey I am genuinely weirded out by this situation."
Kim sighed. "Are you sure she's in here?"
"If she's upset, she will be. Chances are she's asleep in my old bed."
"That's adorable. I remember when my brothers were that cute."
Ron raised an eyebrow of his own. "I see what you're trying do. You're trying to find common ground between us in an effort to get to know me….how diabolical."
"And I see what you're doing, you're still stalling." Kim reached down, turned the knob on the door and pushed the door open.
"After you" she announced.
Ron stood still at the edge of the doorway. He closed his eyes and smiled brightly.
"What's the matter now?" She asked.
"One second please, I'm enjoying the delicious irony of a girl dragging me back to my room."
Kim placed her hand on his back and shoved him lightly into room. Ron stumbled forward with his arms flailing. He turned towards her with a disappointed look upon his face.
"Oh come on, I rarely get to be on the good side of irony!"
At that moment Kim was no longer paying attention to him. Her eyes were quickly scanning the room; however it revealed nothing to her but a single bed, a nightstand, alarm clock and a window. The entire bedroom was mostly empty and cast in white paint as if someone had given it a good scrubbing with bleach.
"What did you think you'd find, hmmmm?" Ron asked.
"I had theories."
Ron leaned in close to her. "Liiiiikkkkee?"
Kim shook her head, "it's practically bare."
"Problem?"
Kim glanced around the room one more time. "No, I just…..no not really..."
Meanwhile, the child occupying the bed only a few feet away yawned and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She sat with her dark eyes fixed eagerly on the two figures in the room but they still had not noticed her
"….it's just a little sterile that's all.'
"Sterile? If that's not on the bottom of the list of words a guy wants to hear in his bedroom…."
"Over exaggerating much?"
"Much or not enough….?"
Presently Hannah watched the two friends before grabbing a plush cat doll and placing it beside her for a grand seating to the show. Then she reached under the pillow she had been sleeping on and pulled out a post-it pad and a tiny pencil. This furtive movement on the bed finally alerted Ron and Kim to her presence.
"Yo sis! Ron exclaimed as he placed Rufus's cage on the nightstand.
Hannah greeted Ron with a nod as he sat down beside. Wrapping his arm around Hannah, he pulled his sister into a tight embrace.
"Vow of silence?"
Hannah used the pencil to scribble on the post-it pad. She tore the top piece from the pad and handed it to her brother. Ron read the note out loud.
"Honor to the fallen."
"I understand, but mom's going to be worried, so you can't let this go on for more than three days or she shall freak."
Hannah tilted her head and offered her brother a crestfallen look.
"No, none of the cute stuff, the fallen will be honored enough after three days."
Hannah frowned, before nodding silently. Her attention then turned to the third person in the room.
"Hey Hannah this is my friend Kim Possible……She's um, she…she's." Hannah looked towards her brother and he wilted under her gaze. "She's great…I mean…she knows martial arts."
Hannah's glanced over at her brother's friend and Kim met the curious eyes. "I've dabbled a bit in a few styles. I mean I haven't perfected my technique but I am fairly confident in m…."
Kim paused as she realized that she was trying much too hard to impress a six year old. She then decided to change subjects for fear of sounding conceited.
"I'm glad I can finally meet you Hannah, though I wish it was under better circumstances. I'm sorry about Swimmy.'
Looking dejected Hannah nodded once again. Ron placed his hand in his sister's hair. He cleared his throat. "Hannah in the dualism of death and life there is a harmony. We know that the life of a soul, which is finite in its expression and infinite in its principle, must go through the portals of death in its journey to realize the infinite. It is death which is monistic; it has no life in it. But life is dualistic; it has an appearance as well as truth; and death is that appearance, that maya, which is an inseparable companion to life."
"Seriously?" Kim asked.
Ron looked up at her. "You didn't get it?"
"I got it….sort of….but you're trying to help your sister not me; she's not going to get it."
"Oh right." Ron turned to Hannah who stared blankly back at him. "I should have considered that before I did all the net research" he muttered under his breath.
Hannah rolled her eyes and pulled herself from her brother's embrace. She then lay back in the bed with her back to him.
Ron glanced down at his sister. "Ouch."
His eyes went from Kim to Hannah and suddenly Ron appeared very defeated. His shoulders slumped, and his arms hung down like they were carrying heavy shopping bags.
"This would be a good time to tell her about fish heaven." Kim said suddenly.
Ron stared at her with confusion. "What?"
Kim winked. "You know, fish heaven, you were telling me about it earlier"
Moments away from asking Kim if she was feeling alright, a post-it note slid its way past Ron's shoulders.
"Tell me"
Ron peered down at the note and the puzzles pieces fell into place. "Oh fish heaven…yeah I can't believe I forgot about that."
He grabbed Hannah and placed her on his lap. "See Han, Swimmy might have been sick but now he's in a better place now. He's in fish heaven, and it's a great place. First of all, in fish heaven you don't live in water, you live in chocolate milk. Isn't that right Kim?"
"Ah yes…..chocolate milk with cinnamon and bits of marshmallows." Kim said quickly.
Ron placed his fingers on each side of his neck. "Can you imagine how sweet is to have chocolate milk going through your gills."
Hannah nodded and he forged ahead.
"Secondly but more importantly, no more of that nasty fish food you sprinkle on the top of the bowl. That stuff tastes terrible Han, trust me. How would I know? Well Hannah your brother is the wrong kind of curious. Now if you add poor judgment, and the luck of a thirteen foot tall leprechaun, with a broken mirror and spilled salt in his pocket, that happened to be born on Friday the 13th under a ladder, you'll realize your brother's life is one seemingly……"
Kim cleared her throat.
Ron stopped and inhaled deeply. "Right, fish food is terrible. In fish heaven, fish get to have people food…..Except there's no fish on the menu because that would be fishybalism, and there's no fishybalism in fish heaven. So Swimmy won't get any tuna wraps but he'll get a nice slice of seaweed pizza with a thin crust…and a thick layer of……
Kim watched over the scene, Ron was now completely lost in his own story. However, and this was the most important detail. Hannah was entirely captivated by her brother's tale. She looked at her brother unblinking and apparently hanging on every word. It occurred to Kim that this was likely not the first time Ron had captured the little's girl's attention.
"….OK here's the thing. I know you're still going to miss him. Hey I'm going to miss the little dude too. But even though Swimmy might be gone, we've still got memories of him."
He tapped Hannah on the forehead. "You're still going to remember Swimmy right?"
Hannah nodded.
"If you keep remembering him then he's not really gone."
Hannah appeared to reflect on this and then she wrapped her arms around his waists.
Ron gave her a peck on the head. "Awww, hey how about I get you a bowl of ice cream before bedtime?"
Hannah pulled herself from Ron's body and nodded.
"Ladies, chillax, I'll be right back"
Ron departed and it was as if he had taken all the energy out the room with him. In its place he left a heavy pressure in the air that one would feel moments before a thunder storm. It was something Kim hadn't expected to say the least, especially after things had gone so well with the elder Stoppables. Kim ran her hands together as Hannah looked her over once more before directing her attention to Rufus' cage. Kim's eyes fell on the plush cat doll on the bed.
"Let me guess, kitty?" she said after snatching it off the bed.
Hannah looked over her shoulders; she glanced at Kim and then the doll. Swiftly she grabbed her pencil and pad. In a few moments she handed Kim a note.
"His name is Spot!"
A smirk came to Kim's face. "I should have known. Ron's sister alright."
Kim looked down just in time to see Hannah offer her another note.
"You are pretty." It read.
"Oh thank you." Kim knelt beside the little girl feeling very pleased. "But you know you've got me beat in the cute department."
Hannah grinned and her pencil went to work. Kim received the note graciously.
"Good answer + 1"
"Huh? I'm not sure what…"
Abruptly Hannah reached over and tapped Kim lightly on the chest. Then her pencil danced across the front of the pad.
Clearly confused Kim received the note.
"You are smaller there than the last girl. But your face is prettier."
"Oh well…." Kim shook her head attempting to stop the blood coming from her cheeks. "I um…" to her surprise she found herself wrestling with a sudden mix of jealously and relief.
"….Thank you Hannah, though I see Ron hasn't gotten to the filtering system talk with you yet."
Kim briefly eyed the door. "You want to know a secret? It seems to me, from the home movie and your interactions, that your brother acts normal around you more than anyone else."
Hannah cocked an eyebrow.
"Relatively normal…normal for Ron" Kim said quickly. Hannah nodded in apparent agreement.
She sighed whimsically. "He's quite a character, your brother."
Hannah tilted her head to the right and their eyes locked again. She bit her bottom lips and worked the pencil across the pad again.
Once again Kim took the note.
"You want to make him smile"
"That would be good for everybody" Kim said not knowing for sure what the child meant. "I think he should smile more."
Another note.
"Are you asking for me for help?"
"Come again?" Kim inquired.
With a roll of her eyes Hannah pried the original note from Kim's hand, waited for three seconds and then handed it right back.
Kim considered the little girl's proposition and though she was still confused about what Hannah had to offer, she nevertheless found the idea intriguing.
"Yes, I guess I am. Hannah I could really use your help. If we work together we can make your brother smile a lot more."
Hannah grinned before gesturing for Kim to follow. The six year old led her to the bedroom closet. Hannah pulled the door open and an avalanche of items cascaded to the ground. Kim quickly itemized the contents in her mind; there were a few Captain Constellation action figures, two or three swimsuit magazines which she focused on for a few seconds before scanning to the comic books, video game cases, monster movie posters, posters of monster movies, GWA wrestlers and Snowman Hank, DVDs, Bueno Nacho and Diablo sauce wrappers, various forms of Smarty Mart branded keychain flashlights, a T-shirt with "meh" emblazoned on the front, Japanese Pocket Puzzles, a "grow Your Own 1up Mushroom" novelty toy, a mini Pet Cactus, and many other peculiar items.
"I should have thought of the closet," Kim mused, shaking her head side to side slightly.
Wordlessly Hannah dove into the mess and literally swam her way into the back of the closet. As Kim sifted through some of the items, she picked up what she thought was a Rubik cube but was in reality an alarm clock. Hannah returned from the depths of the closet with a thick book under her arms. She scribbled out a quick note, slapped it on the cover and handed it to Kim.
Kim read the note.
"Buried treasure."
She glanced quickly at the cover of an elementary school year book.
"This is a tremendous breach of privacy." The redhead replied.
Hannah offered her another note.
"I won't tell if you won't."
Reluctantly Kim opened the book and began to scan the pages; eventually she fell upon a page that was halfway torn from the spine. As if someone couldn't bring themselves to completely rip the page free. Peeking down at the page Kim saw that Ron had circled a girl's picture. She studied the picture deeply and with a critical eye. Hannah in turn studied Kim. Moments later Kim closed the book and sighed.
"Buried treasure huh?"
Hannah nodded.
Kim handed the book back to Hannah. "Thanks Hannah that really helped. So what do I owe you, a new friend for spot…some candy?"
The little girl pondered for a moment before a large grin came to her face.
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Ron was halfway up the stairs when he heard peculiar sounds coming from the general direction of his room. Strangely enough it sounded as if someone had shouted "Hiya" and then this was followed by a muffled thud. Holding the bowl of ice cream with both hands he sprinted up the stairs and pushed through his bedroom door. He wasn't exactly sure what he was expecting to see but it was quickly apparent that whatever happened had ended before he had arrived.
"There's a weird energy in this room" he stated.
Kim sat coolly at the foot of his bed and Hannah lay on her back by the headboard staring at the ceiling and suspiciously breathing heavily.
"Welcome back" Kim said nonchalantly.
Hannah placed her hand in the air and waved a greeting. His eyes narrowed, Ron inched closer to the two in his bedroom.
"Something happened." Ron said with a squint in his eyes, as he handed Hannah the bowl of ice cream. Hannah exchanged the bowl with another note.
Ron stared at the note, then Kim, then at Hannah.
"What does it say?" Kim inquired.
"She likes you…I figured she would, but hmmm."
"Oh" Kim smiled cheerfully. "I'm glad we had a chance to bond."
"Bond how?"
Kim glanced at her watch. "I better get home."
Ron paused for a beat. "K, I'll walk you home."
With her mouth full of ice cream Hannah pointed to Kim and gestured for her to come closer. Kim walked over to the little girl and Han motioned for her to come even closer. Kim leaned over until her face was inches away from Hannah's mouth. Ron's sister lifted her head up and whispered discreetly into the red head's ear. Though instinct told him to protest, Ron watched over the scene quietly. He wouldn't readily admit it, but he found the idea of his sister enjoying Kim's company to be more appealing than he initially thought. He was creating a list of pros and cons when Kim pulled away from Hannah with a confused look on her face.
"Um….sure….I'd love to Hannah. I'll try my best."
With that said the two exchanged enthusiastic goodbye waves and Kim followed Ron out of the bedroom.
"She broke her vow of silence." Ron said as he closed the bedroom door behind them. "What was so important that she had to say it to you?"
Kim crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm not sure, maybe you can help. What's a tingle lady?"
Now it was Ron's turn to be confused. "Tingle lady?"
"She said if I want I can be the tingle lady….and the way she said it was like she was giving me permission."
"Huh," Ron said with a shrug. "Well let's say sayonara to my folks.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"I can't believe my dad hit you with the old 'I'm not really forty, I'm actually thirty nine, ninety five plus shipping and handling' joke...the worst part is that he officially shouldn't be using it for like three years now."
"Your parents were very enthusiastic," Kim remarked as they walked down the fog drenched block containing the Stoppable home.
"Yeah well I uh, it might surprise you but, I haven't had many chances to bring a lot of girls back home."
Visibly amused Kim watched him closely.
"Yeah, I'm not the best looking guy in the world. Put me next to Brad Pitt, you can say he's better looking than me no question."
Walking beside him Kim purposely stepped into Ron's path and bumped him slightly off balance. "I don't think you needed to go as high as Brad Pitt" she teased.
Regaining his balance Ron quickened his pace to catch up to her. "Ha, ha, you should take that act to the stage."
"Can I ask you a personal question?" Kim said when they were once again walking side by side.
Ron thought over her question for a sizable amount of time. "Shoot."
"Two things first, the first one is that I want to apologize. I'm sorry."
Ron's eyebrows furrowed nervously. "Apologize for what?"
"That's where the second part comes in. You have to promise you won't get mad."
"Why would I get mad?"
Kim blew out a breath. "Because of how I got the info leading to the question."
"Alright….I can't promise I won't get mad. That's technically impossible, getting mad might be my initial reaction to what you're going to say. So then I'd be breaking the promise with it being beyond my control."
"Fair enough…….who's Cynthia?"
Ron tripped over his own two feet. As if his legs had suddenly become self aware and decided to go their separate ways. He fell to the ground, and Kim aided him in getting back.
"I think I sprained my ankle a little" Ron cried out. He balanced himself on one foot and glared at Kim. "How?"
Kim shrugged sheepishly. "Lucky guess?"
Ron groaned. "I see the bonding…Y'know …I…I didn't go to your house…being all analytical…and…snooping…and…getting to know…stuff."
"I quote 'when did you have any fun Kim' do you remember that one?" she retorted.
Ron ran his hand across the back of his neck. "Tha……that wasn't…. that was an observation not an assessment, there's a difference."
"Do tell?"
"I can't stop myself from observing something in the presence of my eyesight." He answered.
"Well in any case I suppose your assessment may have been right."
Ron stopped and faced Kim. He studied her face for a moment. "No wait, hold the phone, I'm the victim here. I'm the one who has been collaborated on by my friend and sister."
"You're right, and I'm really sorry for invading your privacy like that."
He wasn't sure how he knew but at the moment he wholeheartedly believed that she was being sincere.
"I uh, I'd rather not talk…."
"You don't have to say anything now" she interrupted. "But I just want you to know that these ears are open."
"I don't think I want or need to…"
"Open ears, 24/7 like a Bueno Nacho drive in," Kim interjected.
"Anybody ever mention how persistent you are KP?"
"Only with things I care about." Kim turned and continued walking towards her parent's home. "If you're not upset, I'll see ya tomorrow."
Ron drew in a few quick breaths before dash/hopping over to Kim's side.
"Unfortunately mama raised a gentleman; I said I'd walk you home. So I'm going to do it."
"It's only a five minute walk."
"So?" Ron said.
"Are you mad at me?"
"I'm a little annoyed at the moment but not mad enough to stop walking."
"Thanks." She said as she began to smile.
"I…I figure I might as well uh….play along and let you observe and analyze my kindness. But you should know I am aware of your master plan."
She rolled her eyes towards the night sky and smiled. "You figured me out; I am befriending you out of spite."
"I've been in weirder situations."
"I'm very sure."
"I notice you're a little too quick with the humor tonight."
Kim chuckled as she latched onto his arm.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Upon reentering his home, Ron made a beeline to his own room. Hannah had to have been the culprit behind Kim's discovery. He recalled the day two years ago when he had rediscovered the year book. He was still dating Zita at the time and Ron had been fixing up his room knowing for sure he would eventually have to bring her over to meet his parents. After spending some time staring at the book he noticed then that Hannah had been in the room. She remarked on how sad he had looked. The same day Ron had stuffed everything completely into the closet.
As expected Hannah was still up and about. He stepped into the middle of the room and their eyes met. There was a moment of frozen silence, as the two siblings stared each other down like two western gunslingers. Ron counted his heartbeats, ready to pounce.
Eventually he's spotted the mischievous Hannah gleam behind her eyes and he knew she'd break. He was right, a few second later a smile grew on Hannah's face. She puckered her lips and made kissing noises in the air.
Ron rubbed his hands together. "Looks like it's time for the tickle monster."
Hannah squealed out loud as Ron chased her around the room.
A/N Well hopefully it lived up to the last chapter. This is my third "Hannah" each one a slighly different version of the last. I enjoy writing for her and her interactions with Ron. I know she didn't get good press during the show itself, but I like working with them. So anyway Kim's on the war path, Ron's on the defensive, something's got to give. Got my Graduation to prepare for but my next two updates will be awesome if I do say so myself. the prologue for something new and possibly....MW. Thanks for reading.